Iron Man: The Riley Stark Adventures Book 1
by superherofan95
Summary: I stink at summaries. Riley Stark is a 15 year old who is Tony Stark's younger sister. She's been having dreams about Edward Cullen, but she doesn't know that's his name yet until one day, she draws him. Some lines are from the Iron Man movie.
1. Chapter 1 The Nightmare

*Iron Man© and its characters are owned by Stan Lee

Twilight© and its characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer

Riley Stark© is owned by superherofan95

2009

***Free running**, to summarize, could be described as a form of "urban acrobatics" in which participants (free runners) use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures. It incorporates efficient movements from parkour, adds aesthetic vaults and other acrobatics, such as tricking and street stunts, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving. It is commonly practiced at gymnasiums and in urban areas that are cluttered with obstacle

**Chapter 1: The Nightmare**

"You're not alone Riley," the voice said from the darkness, "I've been watching you for many months. I have been keeping you safe. You think you have no one to talk to, but that's not true. You have your brother and friends to talk to. You have me. Trust me Riley. I promise I won't hurt you."

"Get away from me!" I screamed, "Who are you? What do you want?" I ran through the dark woods that surrounded me endlessly. My breathing was fast and my lungs ached as cold air swept through them. Tears were flowing down my face. "Go! Leave me alone!" I screamed again half-crying. I found a huge tree to hide and to catch my breath. I was alone. I had no one to scream for help. No one could hear me.

"Calm down Riley." The voice coaxed next to me in my ear. I screamed in fear. Then a male figure stepped out of the shadows. He reached out a hand toward mine. "Calm down Riley." He said again. "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. You can trust me." He reached closer.

"Aahh!" I unleashed a blood curling scream. I darted up from my bed. Sweat soaked my shirt. My sheets were wrapped around my legs from thrashing. It was only a dream; a nightmare.

"Riley!" a voice shouted from downstairs, "Riley are you ok?" I heard footsteps running outside my door. The door opened revealing my brother Tony. He rushed to my bed and sat down next to me, wrapping his arms around me. "Riley are you ok? I heard you screaming from downstairs." I nodded and leaned my head against his chest shaking with fear from the nightmare.

"I had another nightmare." I explained looking up at his face filled with concern. He pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head. Ever since Dad died, Tony's been very protective of me. He's a busy man, but somehow he manages to have time for me. He's head of Stark Industries; America's top weapon-making company designed by my dad. We live in Malibu on a cliff in a high-tec mansion with a spectacular view of the ocean and the city. My brother's a shallow pig, but is kept organized by his assistant Pepper Potts who by the way is very cool for a chick that is way older than me.

"You're safe," Tony coaxed, "no one's going to chase you in dark places." His voice was comforting and relaxing. "No more staying up late at casinos for you missy." He added. I stared at him.

"That's not my fault!" I cried, "You're the one who brought me there because of the banquet for the award Rhodey presented, but you weren't there to get it because you were too busy gambling and flirting with women." I glared at him. "I'm surprised you could get up here after how many martinis you had and what happened between you and that reporter Christine." I added coldly. He looked shocked while he got up from my bed and walked over to the windows pressing a button to open up the shades that were really darkened windows.

"I was only messing with you," He teased, "and how do you know what happened between me and her.?"

"Jarvis." I answered simply. Jarvis is our computer who runs the house. He's very helpful at times and is easy to influence to help. Like last night for an example; Tony brings a woman I don't know who she is and he sleeps with her.

"Crap!" Tony looked worried, "God I hope Pepper didn't watch the video." He ran his fingers through his brown hair still worried. He sighed big. Oh I caught him in a tight spot.

"Oh you better hope so." I darkly threatened him. He turned around slowly.

"Was that a threat?" He asked in his dangerous voice, "Did my own little sister threaten me?" He sauntered closer to me. A grin slowly reached my mouth. Suddenly he lunged for me and I sprinted out the door. "I'm going to get you Twerp!" I heard him yell. I knew he was teasing. We tease each other all the time. We probably can't go through a day without teasing one another. He chased me into the living room into a tight spot. I dodged his grip as he lunged for me. "You're impossible to catch Riley!" He laughed. I leaped over the couch with ease.

Tony seemed to have trouble jumping over the couch because he ended up on the floor. "You're like a ninja." He commented. I stood at his feet and chuckled. That part was actually true in a way. At night, I sometimes sneak out of the house to do a little free running. It's an ability some people are born with. They bend the laws of gravity so it means we can run on walls for a certain amount of time, do a King Kong leap over walls, and my personal favorite; jumping from a great height and somersault onto the ground without getting hurt.

Tony jumped up so quickly I didn't have time to react. He tossed me on the somewhat comfortable couch and gave me a noogie. "I can't believe you did that." Tony laughed, "You clever Twerp." Then he began to tickle me. "Looks like Riley still haves some ticklish spots." That was one of my weaknesses whenever I'm around him. He kept tickling me until I had tears running down my face and my lungs and side began to hurt. "Do you want to help me fix an engine?"

"Sure." I nodded in agreement. Tony taught me everything about computers, weapons, and cars. I help him clean or fix engines whenever they needed it. I was already wearing jeans and a t-shirt, so we headed downstairs to the really cool high tech lab. Tony checked the archives to see if there were any cars that needed fixing. We found one with flames painted on the sides had some valve problems. "Of course it's always one of the custom built cars that need fixing." I muttered under my breath. Tony started to laugh as he turned on some music. We've always had a habit of turning music on when we were working, doing homework, thinking new ideas for stuff, or building something. We can't stand the quiet for some strange reason. We usually do better when music is on. I guess it runs through the family.

We were working on it for an hour until the music somehow shut itself off. I looked around to see who did. Pepper walked into the lab with one of her you're-suppose-to-be-half-way-around-the-world-looks. "Please don't turn off my music," Tony said without looking up from the engine, "I hate it when someone does that especially when it's a good song. Wasn't it Riley?" I nodded turning my attention back to the engine.

Sure enough; "You're suppose to be half-way around the world by now Mr. Stark." Pepper reminded him. Tony stopped his progress and grabbed a rag.

"Do you want to finish that?" He asked while he wiped his oil and grease covered hands on the rag. I nodded. Then I scanned over the engine to see what else needed repairs. Pepper gave a look of disproval. "She doesn't mind." He said, "Do you?" I shook my head still working. Pepper talked to him reminding the upcoming dates of meetings and special occasions. After a few minutes of discussion, Tony grabbed his keys and jacket. "I'll call you two after the demonstration." He called. He gave me a quick hug and a noogie on the head. "See you later Riley."

"Bye Tony." I called after him. I'm going to miss him even though I will see him in a couple of days. I guess the reason why is because Tony and I have a very close relationship. Most brothers and sisters treat each other like crap.

"So Riley," Pepper began with a sigh, "what do you want to do today? I know it sounds bizarre hanging around your brother's assistant, but do you want to do something?" I understood that she was trying to keep me company and try not to die of boredom.

"Honestly Pepper," I confessed, "I really don't know. I'm almost done fixing this engine, so maybe we could do something after that." She looked a little disappointed. "There. I'm done. Now, let's find out what to do." We each gave each other ideas on our favorite things and see what we have in common. We found a couple of things. We both like to swim, go sail boating, rock climbing, and go to the movies.

I finished working on the engine around 11:30, so I would be having lunch in a half hour. So to help pass time, I grabbed my copy of Twilight from the study. I pulled up a chair on the deck and started reading. So far, I'm on chapter 4. What happened so far was one of the main characters named Bella Swan, moved from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington to live with her dad because her mom got remarried to a man who's in a baseball league and has to travel a lot. Bella meets a guy who is absolutely amazing named Edward Cullen. One morning, she's almost hit by a van, but Edward comes out of nowhere and saves her life. That's all I got to so far. It's very addicting.

"What are you reading there?" Pepper's voice said faintly. I jumped bringing me back to reality. "I'm sorry I made you jump Riley."

"No. It's ok." I assured her, "It's just that I got lost in this book I'm reading. It's called Twilight. The author is a very good descriptive writer. You can picture everything in your head."

"I've heard about that book. I've seen people read the series." She said, "Here's your lunch by the way: a grilled cheese sandwich, apples with caramel dip, and a Pepsi." She handed my lunch.

"Thanks." I replied, "I didn't know it was noon already." I ate my sandwich, had a couple of apple slices with caramel, and took a long drink of Pepsi. "That was good." I commented.

"Thank you," She replied, "I made it instead of ordering takeout. Hey isn't that book about a girl who falls in love with a teenage vampire who's 108 years old?" She added.

"Yep," I replied, "you should read it. I'll let you borrow it once I'm done." She nodded an ok. "Pepper can I ask you a favor?" She nodded another ok. "I need you to keep this a secret from anyone, even Tony. The famous teenage boy guitar player Riley, it's…it's…it's actually me. I don't want to tell Tony or anyone else or they'll go berserk on me. I know that you don't want to keep secrets away from him, but I've been fighting with myself for months. I've been trying to find someone to trust and something keeps telling me that it's you I can trust."

"Riley," Pepper began, "I may not be your mother or any relative, but I'm proud of you. You're this world-known guitar player with multiple music abilities. That's incredible. Most people your age can't do that and be famous at the same time. You're one of few people in the world with a special gift. I promise to keep your secret. It's safe with me. I cross-my-heart-pinkie swear. I need a copy of your performance schedule so that when Tony comes back, we can sneak you out of here to get to your concerts. How do you disguise yourself?"

"Well," I began, "I dress like a guy that really isn't hard for me because I already do. And I wear a wig that's the same shade of brown except the wig is a little lighter than mine. I also wear a black beanie too." Pepper nodded as I went through the details.

After I got through the details, Pepper was going to comment on what I should do, but before she opened her mouth, Jarvis announced that we have visitors. I rushed to the door and answered it. When I opened the door, I found my friends Sam Wilcox and Nicole Denton standing in the doorway.

"Jarvis I need you to keep this information away from Tony." Pepper commanded.

"As you wish Ms. Potts I will keep this information classified from Mr. Stark" Jarvis replied.

"Yeah Jarvis you need to keep it away from Tony or he'll pound me." I added. I eyed Sam what was going on. She already knows about the whole guitar thing. Nicole was petite and has dark hair that she redyed every other month. She looks small for her age, but she's fifteen like me. She doesn't know the secret about me. That's why I trust Sam. I've trusted her since we were 4 and swimming in the baby pool. Sam was like me: tall and skinny with long dark hair that reached the mid back. She is shorter than me by a couple of inches, but she's tall and the same age as me. All three of us are sophomores in high school.

"Hey Riley," Nicole greeted with a smile, "is Tony here?"

"Nope," I replied, "he left for a demonstration for a new weapon in the Afghanistan desert, but he'll be back in a couple of days." They both looked disappointed. Tony treats them like family. They love hanging out with him and he always makes it interesting.

"Do you want to go see a movie with us?" Sam asked quickly instead.

"Yeah I'd love to. Let me ask Pepper to let her know where I'll be." I said, "How'd you two get here anyway?"

"My dad drove us." Nicole answered looking embarrassed. Unlike me, they live in the suburbs and Nicole's dad embarrasses her a lot whenever I'm around.

"Pepper is it ok if I hang out with Nicole and Sam?" I asked walking in the kitchen.

"Sure." Pepper answered without looking up from her agenda. She loved seeing the two of them.

"Thanks." Then the three of us headed out the door. "So what movie are we going to see?"

"I was thinking the Dark Knight. I hear it's really good." Sam suggested. We all agreed on the choice. The rest of the day ran smoothly for me.


	2. Chapter 2 Impossibilities

**Chapter 2: Impossibilities**

I was walking down a hallway that had paintings and sculptures. Ahead of me, was a door that looked like a crest embedded in the handles. I pulled the oak doors to reveal a study. There were curtains draped on the windows and bookcases full of many books. There were books on people, places, medicines, culture, poems, songs, fiction, and nonfiction. I wanted to pull one out, but I wasn't sure if I should. On the wall near the door, hung a painting of three noble-looking men dressed in elegant robes that sat on thrones made of pure gold.

In the middle of the study, there stood a boy who looked no older than seventeen. He was staring out of the window until he somehow heard me come in. He turned around and I saw his face. He had pale-white skin, bronze hair, and his eyes; a deep, rich dark gold. "Hello Riley." He said with a smile. His voice was smooth and calming. It was familiar, but I couldn't remember why. I racked my memories desperately, trying to remember where I heard him before.

Suddenly with great force knocking the wind out of me, I remembered. His voice was the one calling my name in the woods. He's the one who was running after me in the woods trying to tell me something, but I didn't listen. I was afraid of him. Something in my gut was telling me that I have no reason to be afraid of him. I gasped and my eyes snapped open. As I sat up, I read the clock. 3:00 a.m. It had only been a few hours since Tony had called to say that the demonstration went well and to wish me good night. "Sleep tight kiddo." He smiled on the phone.

I got out of my bed, pacing. Who is this seventeen year old? How does he know my name? Why is he so beautiful? I grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil and sat down at my desk. It wasn't hard to remember what he looks like. "May I ask what are you doing up this early?" Jarvis asked.

"I'm drawing a person I keep seeing in my dreams. For the past couple of days, he keeps telling me to draw him. I don't know why he asked me to. He didn't tell me why either. I'm only doing what he asked me." I grimly explained.

"Do you know his name?" Jarvis fired another question.

"No. He didn't tell me his name." I grimaced in disappointment. I put in every vivid detail about him. It had to be perfect. I grabbed my oil pastels and colored him in. When I was done, I held it up to examine my work. Everything was completely detailed. I hung him above my bed where I could see him. _I wish he was real._ I thought. I turned my attention to the deck in my room. I walked over to the doors and pulled them open. The dark breeze from the ocean greeted me. I then walked over to the edge of the deck and stared at the ocean. The moon reflected the dark blue waters creating an unearthly glow. I closed my eyes as another breeze surrounded me pulling me away from the world.

_Riley_. The breeze whispered my name. My eyes snapped open. Well I thought it was the breeze, but that's physically impossible. "I'm just hearing things. It's 3 in the morning and I'm hearing things." I muttered to myself. I walked back into my room trying to forget what happened.

I crawled into bed again, but I didn't go to sleep. I sat up thinking about the voice and the unknown boy in my dreams. "Riley." A voice loud and clear whispered in my ear. I jumped so hard I fell out of bed. I scrambled up and sat back in bed. _That was really creepy_. I thought. I knew I wasn't hearing things now. I could hear them and they were real. Someone was talking to me. Eventually, I drifted off back to sleep. After what seemed like a few minutes, I woke up finding it morning and Pepper in my room.

"I'm sorry to be in here, but we have lots of stuff to do." She said grimly. She began to scope my walls filled with posters and drawings I drew when I was troubled by something. "I've never been in your room before." Her eyes stopped on the portrait I drew this morning. "Oh my god did you draw this?" I nodded. "You're really good. It looks like a professional artist drew him." She kept studying the portrait.

"Thanks." I flushed. No one had ever commented on my drawings before.

"Does he have a name?" She asked curiously.

"I don't know his name. He keeps popping up in my dreams." I replied as I read the clock; 10:30. I got out of bed and went downstairs to get some breakfast. Pepper followed and grabbed a chair at the table.

"Oh so he _does_ have a name."

As I walked into the kitchen, Jarvis announced:

"You have an incoming call from James Rhodes." I quickly pressed a button to answer the phone. Rhodey is Tony's best friend in the air force and makes weapons for his department.

"Hi Rhodey." I greeted.

"Hey Riley," He greeted back, "is Pepper there with you?" Something didn't sound right. Usually Rhodey's in a good mood when we talk to him.

"Yep," Pepper answered rushing to my side, "I'm here."

"I've got some bad news." He began, "Tony's missing. His Humvee was attacked earlier today. The soldiers that were guarding him were killed. I saw him run for cover after he jumped out of the Humvee when it was attacked. I didn't see anything after that. We're setting out a search party to find him. We won't stop until we find him no matter how long it takes. I promise." The call ended.

I felt tears run down my face. I looked at Pepper and she too had tears running down her face. She gave me a long hug. I started to shake uncontrollably and began sobbing. Pepper's tears and cries joined mine. The thought of him being dead brought fresh tears to me. "I hope he's alive." I gasped through my tears. I stopped crying, but I was still shaking.

"I'm sure he's fine. We both know that if your brother is in any type of trouble, he can escape. That clever mind of his will help him out." She comforted. She stopped crying, but her eyes were red.

"Everything will be ok Riley. I promise." The too-familiar voice said. Pepper didn't seem to hear it. It calmed me and my shakes turned to trembles.

The rest of the day was quiet. In the evening, I sat curled up on the couch, leaning my head against the cushions. Pepper brought me a bowl of soup and sat down. I ate a little, but I wasn't hungry. I don't each much when I'm upset. It's too hard to turn your attention to something else. Pepper turned on the TV and switched it to the news.

"In other news," The anchorman began, "billionaire industrialist Tony Stark was reported missing in a Humvee attack located in the Afghanistan desert. Air force colonel James Rhodes witnessed the attack."

"I'm going to bed." I muttered. It was too much for me. Pepper seemed to understand. She didn't say anything, but she nodded as an ok. When I got to my room, I flopped down upon my bed. I looked at the portrait long and hard. I didn't know what else to do. It took me a long time to fall asleep when I finally did. I was back in the study with the unknown seventeen year old boy. Everything was still how I remembered about him. He had a smile that reached his eyes. He stood next to me with a gentle grip on my shoulder and still smiled.

"Everything will be fine. You'll see." He said in my ear. I woke up with a start. He sounded so close. What's wrong with me? I keep dreaming about him. Across the dark room, my insides went cold. He was standing there looking at me and smiling. That's impossible. My eyes were playing tricks on me. Or so I thought they were. His dark gold eyes gazed into mine. Quickly, I turned on the lamp on my bedside table. When I turned around, he was gone.

It was too good to be true. I turned off the lamp and went back to sleep. Better get a good sleep or I'll be snoozing during school tomorrow. My body was still numb and my mind was still in shock. I may never look at things the same way again.

I woke up early and did my usual routine. I got up, got dressed, ate breakfast, brushed my hair and teeth, gathered my stuff, and grabbed my jacket. Happy Hogan, my brother's driver, was waiting outside for me in the car. "Good morning Happy." I greeted him with a smile as he opened the car door. It pained me, but it seemed to fool him.

"Good morning Ms. Stark." Happy replied with a smile.

"Please," I protested, "call me Riley. It feels too formal if you call me Ms. Stark. And you know how I am."

"Ok then M- Riley." He agreed. He drove me to the high school where teenagers from freshmen to seniors bustled into the building. Class didn't start until 8:15 and got out at 3:15. Normally, my days are usually dull and boring. Something in my gut was telling me that today was going to be different.

"Thanks Happy." I said as I climbed out of the car, "See you at 3:15." He nodded approvingly. As I walked towards the building, I felt everyone's eyes stare at me. They know that I'm Tony's sister, but they don't say much. Last year in my freshmen year, everyone treated me like a celebrity. They only wanted to be my friend just because I was rich and my older brother is a weapon designer. I really hated it. The staff still treats me like one, but otherwise the other students ignore me, except for the freshmen. They're usually shy around me, but I don't care. I kept walking and still felt everyone's stares follow me.

English, Geometry, Spanish, Art, and U.S History went by slowly, even though I'm in all honors. I guess you could say I'm pretty smart. In all honors, my grades are an A plus. At lunch, I sat down at a table that Nicole was sitting at. She greeted me with a smile and I grinned back.

"Hi Riley," She said still smiling, "Sam's here today. She's in line. I was watching the news last night and I'm sorry to hear about what happened to Tony." She gave me a quick hug. Sam joined us seconds later.

"Hi Buddy," She greeted with a smile, "sorry to hear about what happened to your brother. It must be hard on you."

"Thanks for your concern." I said glumly, "You two are the only ones who've said some comfort today."

"Really?" They asked together.

"Mm-hmm." I nodded my head. I dropped the subject. It was too depressing for me. After a few moments of an awkward silence, Nicole blurted out,

"That Edward guy's kina hot!" Sam and I looked at her with bewildered expressions on our faces. "What we're all thinking it. At least I have the guts to say it." She pointed her finger over to one of the tables. Our gazes followed her finger. The boy sitting at the table looked exactly like the picture I had drawn the previous morning. He had pale-white skin, bronze hair, and dark gold eyes that were almost black.


	3. Chapter 3 Wounds

**Chapter 3: Wounds **

I gasped. "That's impossible." I breathed, "Holy crap this is impossible."

"What's impossible?" They asked looking curious.

"Nothing I didn't say anything." I rushed. If I told them, they would think I'm crazy. How would you explain that a fictional character came to life?

"Still," Nicole continued, "he's hot." She giggled. "Oh my god Riley he's looking this way! Tell me; do I look okay?" She panicked.

"No you look like crap." I said sarcastically. I wasn't paying attention to him until she nudged me.

"Riley. He's looking at you." She whispered. As I was taking a drink from my glass of water, my gaze swept to him. His gaze locked mine. By surprise, the water in my mouth I had accidently suddenly sprayed on top of the table. He cracked a smirk.

"Smooth Riley," Sam snorted, "smooth."

"Like chunky peanut butter!" Nicole piped up. I shot her a look. "What?" She held her hand beside her mouth and pointed at Edward. "He's still looking at you." She whispered.

"Well if he's still looking, then he can see you pointing at him." I said coolly. She turned her head slowly in his direction, sheepishly grinning and waved. He rolled his eyes and finally turned away. _I guess he gets that a lot_. I thought

_You're right,_ a quiet voice popped in my head, _I do get that a lot_.

My next class after lunch was Biology with the juniors. I was told that I'm a year ahead in Biology in my normal classes. As I sat down at the table that was normally occupied by me only, someone else was sitting next to me. It was Edward from lunch. As I sat down, he glared at me. He stiffened in his seat and scooted his stool to the other end of the table. I gave him a "what?" look. He didn't say anything, but continued to glare at me. I didn't know what else to do, so I glared back at him. His black eyes bore into mine as my blue-green eyes bore into his. We continued to glare at each other for ten more seconds until Mr. Cooper cleared his throat and began roll call to take attendance.

"Edward Cullen." He called looking at the list.

"Here." Edward replied. _Cullen_. He _was _from the book. So that means he's a vampire, he's over a hundred years old, he can read minds, and does a whole bunch of other stuff vampires can do. Mr. Cooper continued calling names. There was a total of twenty-six and my name was last on the list in alphabetical order.

"Riley Stark." He finally called. I felt everyone's eyes including Edward's black eyes. I really hate being center of attention.

"Here." I said in a small voice. Then Mr. Cooper began class. It was absolute torture. The minutes inched by slowly as we watched a video. While Mr. Cooper's attention was turned to the video, I silently grabbed out a sheet of notebook paper. The lights were turned off, so I would have some cover. Quickly and silently I wrote down on the paper.

**I'm sorry if my scent is too much for you**. Then I slowly pushed it towards him. He stared down at the note, but didn't turn his head away from the T.V. He pulled a pencil out and scribbled down a note and pushed it back to me in the same method.

**Don't worry about it. I've smelled worse.**

**So you think I smell bad?**

**No you smell like orchid and coconut milk. I like it. One time, someone had a scent that was way too much for me, I had to leave the room. I couldn't even hold my breath. It stung my mind and I remembered what that person smelled like.**

**You can smell the shampoo I used? I'm Riley by the way.**

**Yes I can. It smells very nice. It's a pleasure to meet you Riley. I'm Edward Cullen. I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your brother.**

**You're one of very few people who have told me that today.**

**Really what happened to everyone cares?**

**Not everyone cares.**

**But you do, so do I**. I was stunned at the comment. He was quite the gentleman. Well he should because he was born in 1901.

So for the rest of the class, we passed notes to each other. I had my first conversation with Edward Cullen.

When the bell rang, Edward was the first one out. The rest of the classes I had went by quickly. I met Sam and Nicole outside on the steps. I looked at the sky and it showed grayness in the air. "Everything go alright after lunch for you two?"

"It was so and so." Sam replied looking tired. Nicole nodded in agreement.

"Lucky. It was torture. Everything went by slowly in Biology, but the last to periods went by fast." I said.

"So how was Biology with Edward?" Nicole asked with eagerness in her eyes.

"How did you know that I have class with him?" I was surprised.

"You told us in the beginning of the school year. We've always known that you dope." She chuckled. "Oh! There he is." She nudged. He walked to a silver Volvo that seemed to belong to him. He piled his stuff in the car, but didn't get in. He leaned back against the door and surveyed the schoolyard. My insides went cold; his gaze found me and would not look away. I turned away looking for Happy and I spotted him a few cars away from Edward.

"See you later." I said. They waved goodbye and I headed toward the car. I still felt Edward's gaze follow me as I reached Happy.

"Hello Riley. Did everything go fine today?" He greeted. He remembered our little talk we had this morning. He held open the door and I climbed in.

"It was ok, but I've had better." I shrugged. He closed the door and got in on the driver's side. I looked out of the window and saw that Edward finally looked away. He seemed occupied by his brothers and sisters who showed up. We pulled out of the parking lot and headed home.

"Hi Riley," Pepper said as I walked into the living room, "did school go ok?"

"It was weird because I knew that Tony wasn't going to be home like always since he's still missing. Plus each time during roll call to take attendance when they call my name, everyone kept staring at me. It was really annoying."

"You sound like you had a rough day." Pepper noted, "Do you have any homework?"

"Nope I got it all done in study hall." I replied.

"That's good. Hey I got a ton of calls to make to put those meetings that your brother's going to have on hold if he's going to be missing for awhile. Who knows how long it will be? Anyway you can go run around wherever you want." She explained.

"Ok. I'm going to go hang around in my room." I nodded. I sprinted upstairs to my room. I looked around trying to find something to do. I noticed my copy of Twilight was sitting on the desk. I had two chapters left so I decided to read it. It took me ten minutes to finish it. When I was done, I sat on my bed thinking. Edward had a really weird reaction when I sat next to him in Biology. "Maybe…just maybe…" I quietly said. I flipped back into the book on Bella's first day of school in Forks. Nope that's not it. I skipped forward to the part where Bella sat next to Edward in Biology for the first time. I reread the section and focused on that part only.

"Aha! So that's why." I understood, "He hasn't hunted in awhile and he smelled my scent. He's probably going by the book for a little bit. If he is, then he won't be at school tomorrow or Wednesday. He, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett won't be at school if it's sunny outside." I talked to myself, "Yeah that sounds right." It was becoming all clear. It was making sense. To me it was making sense, but I don't know about it making sense to anyone else.

I pushed the thought into the back of my mind. "Jarvis I need you to do something for me." I called.

"Yes Ms. Stark?" Jarvis asked. I pulled my guitar out and plugged it in into the amp.

"Tell Pepper, that if she needs me, she can use you to beep me because I'm going to be practicing for Friday's concert." I requested.

"Yes Ms. Stark. I will inform Ms. Potts." Jarvis answered. He said nothing after that. My mind belonged to the music that I played. This Friday, I have a concert to play at. Like always, there's going to be lots of people there. As far as I know, all of the tickets have been sold. And the arena fits a lot of people.

It must have been two hours ago when I started because I don't remember anything after I talked to Jarvis. "You are needed downstairs Ms. Stark." Jarvis informed. I put my guitar in the case after I unplugged it from the amp.

The atmosphere downstairs didn't change at all when I left to my room. _I hope she doesn't mind Chinese_. A voice that sounded a lot like Pepper's said. Wait. I stood at the bottom of the stairs. Pepper was in the kitchen, but there was Chinese food on the table. That _was_ Pepper's voice! In my head I heard her voice! She didn't say anything when she said it; otherwise I would have heard it aloud if she did.

"I hope you don't mind Chinese." She said coming out of the kitchen carrying two cans of Pepsi. "I would have cooked, but you know how bad it is when I'm depressed."

"I don't mind." I assured, "I haven't had Chinese in awhile." She handed me one of the cans of Pepsi. "So did you manage to make all of those calls?"

"Yes I did." She sighed in relief, "It took awhile though." I opened my Pepsi and sipped out of it.

"Mm-boy I can't wait to see what happens when Tony comes back." I smirked.

"Oh do not get me started on that right when I finished holding those meetings." She looked horrified. I started to laugh. She eventually joined me. "Riley I wonder why I still like you when you do that." I smiled at the comment.

"I have no idea why. Besides, if you didn't then I would be sad. Oh and I finished the book by the way if you want to read it. " I answered.

"Oh good I was hoping to read it soon." She replied. We turned on the TV while we ate. It was on the news channel. To my displeasure, they were still talking about Tony.

"Reports are coming in that the whereabouts of Tony Stark are still unknown." The anchorman reported. Pepper looked at me like if she wasn't sure that I should be watching this.

"No. It's okay. I can deal with it. It doesn't hurt so much like it did the last time." I looked at her with confidence. She nodded, but she put the remote close to her in case she needed to change the channel if it was too much for me. They talked a little bit more about my brother, but that was it. "I think Mythbusters is on tonight."

"Okay." Pepper agreed. She switched to the Discovery Channel. Turns out that I was right it was on.

"Oh I love this myth!" I exclaimed.

"What's it about?"

"If you stick a stick of dynamite or firecrackers in a cement truck, the inside will be free of cement. This episode is cool." We watched the rest of the episode laughing and exclaiming at parts. Pepper seemed to enjoy it. "Ooh here comes the good part!" I jumped up and down. They were going to blow up the cement truck.

"3…2…1..." They counted down. KABOOM! The truck on screen exploded. Pepper started laughing.

"That…was…amazing!" She gasped, "Now I know why you like to watch this." We cleaned up our mess and Pepper went to her bedroom. "Good night Riley." She called from her room.

"Good night Pepper." I called back. I headed upstairs to my room and got my . I took a shower and went to bed. In my dream, I was in my house. I was playing the piano that sat near one of the windows that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. I didn't recognize the song I was playing, but someone in the room apparently did.

"You're playing Bella's Lullaby." A voice in my ear said. I didn't have to guess who it belonged to. Edward sat down next to me on the bench with a hand on my shoulder. "You're very good." I smiled. Suddenly my left forearm seared with pain. I grasped my wrist. On there with flowing blood was the name Edward. I shot up from my bed, arm still stinging and wet. I ran to the bathroom and turned on the light. As I held my blood-dripping arm over the sink, I gasped. There on my arm in scarlet blood was Edward's name.


	4. Chapter 4 Discoveries

**Chapter 4: Discoveries **

I stared at the wound in horror. It burned as if someone stuck a white-hot poker to my arm. "Aw crap." I muttered still looking at the wound, "Now everyone's going to think that I cut myself." I cleaned it and put gauze and wrap on top held together with first aid tape. As I sat up back in my bed, I started thinking. Is he trying to tell me something? If he was, then he's not doing a very job. He sliced my arm open with a single touch. All of this made my head dizzy and then I fell asleep.

The first thing I did when I woke up was I changed my sheets because my blood stained them. Then I immediately took a shower to wash it off of me and to clean my wound. I put gauze and wrap on again and secured it. When I got dressed, I threw on a light jacket to cover up the wrap. I headed downstairs and ate a decent breakfast.

I decided to leave for school a bit early. I knew that Edward wasn't going to be at school today, but Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice would be. My morning classes went by quickly. Nicole wasn't there today, but Sam was. From what she told me from Nicole, she threw up last night. "The dangers of school food." I joked. Sam giggled. I looked around while she was eating. The Cullens except for Edward were sitting at a table staring at me. Jasper looked like he was about to launch himself at me, but Alice was holding him back.

Crap. I forgot about this. They can smell my blood. My wound however, was burning, but it stopped bleeding at least.

"Hi Riley." A voice interrupted my train of thought. I blinked and looked up to find Connor Daniels, the most popular and hottest guy in school looking at me. Well actually he was second compared to Edward in cuteness, but still he was cute.

"Uh hi Connor." I replied a bit nervously. I don't have what you would say "Good Dating Background". I don't date very often because most guys here are shallow. They only went out with me just because I was rich and only thought I looked good with them. They didn't care how I feel.

"Do you mind if I join you for a little?" He asked looking embarrassed.

"It's fine." I eased his pain. He relaxed and took a deep breath.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" He asked yet again.

"Shoot." I answered.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me next Friday night. That is, if you're not doing anything." He requested having confidence.

_Please. _A voice I didn't recognize begged in my head. _Don't go. Say no. You don't know what you're getting yourself into. _"Uh I guess so. Sure. What do you want to do?" I was uncertain. The voice in my head let out a low growl.

"Do you want to see a movie?" He suggested. I nodded. "Great. It's a date. I mean uh…it's a hangout." He got up and walked away looking embarrassed.

"Did Connor Daniels just ask you out?" Sam asked.

"I think he just did." I sounded surprised. I had no idea that he liked me. I liked him since fifth grade. Ugh. I sound like a stupid little kid.

The rest of the day went by quickly. Edward wasn't there in Biology either. My arm burned badly next to his empty seat. I met Sam outside on the steps after the bell rang. "So how it goes?" Sam asked.

"Nothing but a boring day I can tell you that. All of the classes went by fast." I replied.

"Any news on Tony about where he's at?" Sam fired another question.

"Nope, but they keep talking about him though on talk shows." I grimaced.

"I'm sorry I asked. You must be upset." She looked guilty.

"No it's okay," I assured her, "you're worried about him. That shows that you really care about him. I'm not real upset. I'm just depressed that they haven't found him yet." Sam looked relieved.

"Phew. Just making sure I'm not upsetting you."

"No you're not. You're fine. You're not hurting me. Hey do you need a ride home Happy is over there." I quickly changed the subject.

"Sure." We walked over to Happy who greeted us with a smile.

"Good afternoon Ms. Wilcox and Riley." He held the car door open.

"Yes please." Sam answered. We climbed in and pulled out of the parking lot. Sam didn't live far from the school, but it took a couple of minutes. "Thanks for the ride." She said as she got out of the car.

"Any time Sam. See you tomorrow." I grinned. As I looked out the window into the gray sky, some of the scenery looked a little blurred. Like something was running next to the car so fast, you couldn't see it. It looked like the shape of a human. _That's weird. ____I thought. __Something or someone might be out there. Oh well._

_Supper went by quick. Before I knew it, it was already 8 p.m. "Wow time flies." Pepper noticed. I agreed with a nod. I sat down on my bed thinking about the dreams I had the previous nights. He's definitely trying to tell me something. __I should write these down in a journal.____ I thought. __They might come handy someday. They'll explain every weird thing that is going on with me._

___ So that's exactly what I did. I had more than five dreams about Edward. Even the ones that I remembered before that I knew that it was him. I didn't realize until now how many dreams I had about him. "Jeeze he really wanted to talk to me. He probably wants to protect me. Maybe feels the same way about me like how he feels for Bella only he's in a relationship with Bella." I muttered. I closed the book and put on my PJs. _

___ It had taken a couple of hours to write down the dreams I had. I climbed into bed and instantly fell asleep. I found myself in an alley behind one of the movie theaters in town. I was in the shadows of one of the buildings that towered over the gigantic theater. _

___ Not too far from where I was standing, two figures were in the moonlight. One was lying on the ground that looked like an unconscious bleeding girl with broken bones close to death. The other which was a boy the same age as the girl, towered over her broken body laughing. I wanted to run over there and kill the boy and save the dying girl. Something told me not to move. Not yet._

___ Another figure small and petite stepped out of the shadows. This figure too was a girl. She had dark hair that met to her shoulders. She walked over to the boy. "Nicely done Connor you did a good job. This is what happens when someone rich and famous like Riley here, gets in my way." She glared at the girl named Riley._

_ The moonlight washed over her face. The girl standing next to the boy named Connor was Nicole. So the bleeding girl was __me____. This dream was showing me what was going to happen to me next Friday. Anger surged through me. My muscles coiled into an attacking position ready to strike. A low growl ripped through my chest. I leaped at Nicole and Connor with rage. They turned in my direction screaming in fear. I felt their bones break easily under my inhuman strength. _

___ "You hurt her!" I roared. I didn't recognize my voice. I wasn't mine. They continued to scream in pain and terror as I attacked them. I left them there in the ally. I picked up the dream-me in my arms. Nearby in a window, I saw my reflection. Now I knew and understood that this monster me was not me at all. I didn't have to guess whose body I was in. I was in Edward's body._

___ "Holy crap that's freaky!" I yelled in shock. I've had freaky dreams before, but if you have a dream about your death that happens next week, one of your friends paid a guy to leave you bleeding and unconscious, and you see this from a protective vampire's point of view, then I'm sure that this tops it as 'The Freakiest Dream Ever'._

___ I ran to my desk and copied it down. I have to tell Sam. No way could I tell Nicole. She would kill me. Oh wait. She really would kill me because that dream showed the future. "Crap what am I going to do? What do I do?" I heard a stick outside snap._

___ I ran to the deck. Peering into the darkness, I found nothing. "I know it's you." I said. The wound on my arm prickled. Then out of the darkness, Edward jumped onto the deck._

___ "Hello Riley." He greeted in his smooth voice, "How did you know it was me and not an animal?" He smiled his famous crooked smile that he always gave Bella that nearly makes her faint every time he smiled._

___ "The wound you left on my arm." I replied. He walked towards me and took my hand examining his name in my flesh. It had already scabbed over. "I'm surprised that you're not going psycho on me since that I have a somewhat open wound."_

___ "I'm holding my breath." Edward replied. I chuckled a little. He smiled again. "Ah yes the injury. I'm sorry about that. I honestly didn't mean to do that. That however, isn't an ordinary cut." He said still not looking up. His touch was cool against my arm._

___ "Yeah I kinda figured. So what does it do? Does it scar up and burn when you're not around me or if you are?" I sarcastically replied. He raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked up._

___ "You're a quick learner." He complemented._

___ "And you were here when you saw the dream in my head when I had it."_

___ "Again you're quick. In a way, I sent the dream. It's hard to explain." His face pulled into concentration._

___ "And you showed it to me from your point of view?" I questioned him._

___ "No actually. I was hoping that you saw it from your point of view in a different location." He confessed. I was surprised to the answer._

___ "So what do I do? I know he's going to hurt me. He doesn't know that I know that." I asked._

___ Edward took a moment to reply. "Eventually he's going to find out that you know that he was paid by Nicole to hurt you. Then she'll know that you know which probably won't end pretty." I laughed. "Just go with him. I'll be in the shadows waiting for you. If he does make his move, you can guess what will happen next." He looked at me directly in the eyes. His gold eyes bore into mine. "We can't be friends though." He added._

___ I glared at him. "You know that's not true. You can feel it even though your heart hasn't beat in decades." I said feeling my temper rising. I heard a low growl from him._

___ "You don't know what you're messing with." He darkly replied._

___ "Yes I do." I continued._

___ "I can kill you." He threatened._

___ "Fine then, prove it. But remember this; you're the one who wanted me to draw you to be here to protect me. No matter what you're real. You're the one who keeps talking to me in my dreams." I coldly replied. He hesitated for a moment. I waited for his response._

___ "Then I guess I won't save you." He finally said. He climbed out of the window without a sound and disappeared into the night. I yelled in frustration. _

___Thankfully, Pepper didn't hear me or Edward talking that night. I had a feeling that his so-called "promise" about not saving me, was going to break. His "promise" of him and Bella not being friends definitely broke. I mean take a look at where they are now in the fictional world. I had my hopes up for that. But what kept me worried was that he wouldn't be there that night on my so-called "date"._

___He wasn't there at school the next day or the day after that. My pain eased when I saw my friend Jake Adams at lunch today. "Riley!" He greeted me with a bear-hug._

_"__Jake…you're…killing…me!" I gasped. He quickly let go and turned red._

_"__Sorry. I just haven't seen you in days." He mumbled._

_"__That's ok. I missed you too. So where have you been?" I replied._

_"__I've been home sick with the stomach flu." Jake answered. He shook long blonde hair that reached the middle of his neck out of the way. _

_"__Dang a lot of people must be getting it." Sam commented, "Nicole called me a couple of days ago and she still has it." Jake's light blue eyes glistened. _

_"__Yeah at least I'm back though. It's not good missing a whole bunch of academic days. Crap I have a lot of work to catch up on." He realized. Jake is the school mascot. He's really good at it too. No one in the school knows that he's the mascot. Well almost everyone. Sam and I both know that he's the mascot. He doesn't even know that we know. Our mascot is the Eagle. Jake wears a mascot suit that's a bald eagle._

___ He's worried about his secret being exposed. People expect him to be this crazy energetic guy, but he's not because he's a quiet shy guy like me, who everyone ignores. The teachers think he's a new student, but he's not. Sometimes I wonder what goes on his head. He always has one of those nervous looks whenever I'm around him. He's one of those rare guy friends who care about you._

___ "Well I'm glad you're feeling better." I smiled, "I had this freaky dream a couple of days ago."_

___ "What was it about?" Sam asked._

___ "Riley always has the most interesting dreams." Jake added. So I told them about the dream, but didn't mention that it was Edward's body I was in. They were shocked when I told them. _

_ "__Just don't tell Nicole. I don't want her to freak out."_

___ Eventually Nicole would find out that I know the truth about her. That was something that I didn't have to deal with right now. Right now I had to worry about next Friday night with Connor._

___ "That really is a freaky dream." Jake said stunned, "Seeing how you would die. Riley maybe you shouldn't go with Connor next Friday. What if it comes true?" He was concerned about me._

___ "Jake, a dream is a dream. She has a very low possible chance of it coming true." Sam explained._

___ "We'd better hurry to our next class." I hastily changed the subject. We grabbed our stuff and walked out of the cafeteria._

___ "Oh I almost forgot," Jake exclaimed, "I have front row tickets to the Black Void concert tonight. I bought some so that we could all go. I can't wait to hear their lead guitarist Riley play. He's like Dragon force solo amazing!"_

___ Black Void is the name of the band that I'm in that I dress up like a guy. My heart pounded rapidly. Crap I wish he hadn't bought three. "Oh. Jake. I'm sorry." I confessed, "I'm doing something tonight." Jake looked a little disappointed. Sam immediately understood. "Don't worry Jake. Sam will be there." I added._

___ "Sure I will. I wouldn't miss it. I hear he's going to pick someone from the audience to come up on the stage and sing one of their songs with him." Sam cheered him up. Jake lightened up._

"Thanks." He said, "I'll see you guys later." He headed off to P.E.

"Thanks a whole bunch. I owe you one." I gratefully said. She thumped me on the back.

"Sure thing buddy, what are friends for?" Sam smiled, "So who are you going to pick?" She added in a low voice.

"It will probably be Jake." I answered in a low voice too, "Have you heard him sing? He's incredible. Besides, he knows all of the songs."

"Not until tonight I will." She grinned, "I'd better hurry or I'll be late for Trigonometry." She left and I headed to Biology. As I sat down at my empty table, my arm, which like Edward said it, would scar up, began to sting.

To focus my pain on something else, I tried my best to listen in to what the others were talking about. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. They were talking loud enough for me to hear. They were talking about tonight's concert and other crap.

"I hope he picks me. I know all of their songs and I've been practicing." One junior girl boasted loud enough for the class to hear. Mr. Cooper cleared his throat as he came in and began class. Biology went by slowly to my distaste for the rest of the day. American Lit and Study Hall flew by to end my school day.

I found Happy sitting outside in the rare sunlight that appears in Malibu. "You have some red in your hair". He said, "I've never noticed that." He opened the door.

"Only in the sunlight is when people see some red in my hair." I smiled as I hopped in.

I had to eat dinner quickly that evening. I had to be there at 5:30. All of the guys in Black Void live here in Malibu and know my secret. They do an excellent job of keeping it. "Rock on!" Pepper wished me luck by pumping a fist into the air.

"I'll try." I smiled. Happy drove me to the arena where already some thirty people were waiting outside. "Wow they must be desperate. They have to wait two and a half hours before they get in." I viewed.

We snuck in by the back entrance. Andy, the second guitarist and leader of Black Void greeted me. "Hey Riley we were afraid you wouldn't make it!" Andy was a couple of inches taller than me and the big-time Mr. Funny Man in the group. He has his slow moments every now and then.

"What are you talking about? You knew I was coming. I called you like two hours ago and told you that I was coming." I pretended to argue.

"Oh come on, you know I'm kidding right? I would never forget that our lead guitarist is coming." Andy answered.

"I know. But, did you know that I was kidding?" I walked past him leaving him abashed.

"Now that's mean." Andy finally figured out. I started to laugh. I found the others setting up the stage. Kyle, our drummer, was adjusting his cymbals on his drum set, and Tyler, our bass, was tuning his six string black Fender bass.

The guys were all in their early twenties, but they act like they're in their Teens. Every day was never boring whenever you're with them. They all looked up when they heard me come in and greeted with grins. "Are you pumped up for tonight?" asked Kyle.

"Heck yeah I am!" I exclaimed. I remembered my first concert I put on. I remembered how nervous I was. Afraid that I would miss lots of notes or something that would embarrass me. That first concert was the start of my musical career and how I became famous. When we played more, I got used to the butterflies in my stomach. Now, I'm not nervous about messing up in front of millions of people.

Tyler finished tuning and walked over to me. "We should tune you so that you're ready. Then you should get ready. We'll run through the songs to warm up." I grabbed my signature Cherry Red guitar out and borrowed Tyler's tuner. When I was finished, I grabbed my bag and changed my clothes, put on my wig and black beanie. I examined myself in the mirror in my dressing room. I didn't recognize myself although I've seen myself dressed as a guy many times before. Good. People wouldn't recognize me as Tony Stark's little sister.

I headed back to the stage and put on my guitar. We went through the order of the songs that we would be playing tonight. We sounded really good after we haven't seen each other in awhile. The two and a half hours passes by quickly. Before I knew it, peeking through the stage curtain, millions of fans were taking their seats waiting anxiously for the concert to start. The lights began to dim and the talking turned to cheering. Then began to chant our name and stomp their feet.

"Here we go." said Andy. The curtains parted and the cheering turned to screams of delight. I scanned the front row smiling at then. A couple of girls looked like they were going to faint. A group of guys were cheering my name. I found Jake one of them. Sam was sitting next to him and I gave her a small smile. She smiled back.

"Are you ready?" Andy screamed into the microphone. I could have sworn I went deaf because the next thing you know, people screamed louder than ever. Boy, are they going to be hoarse in the morning. We began playing our first song; they started clapping the rhythm and singing the song they know so well.

We played our other songs and they sang along. The last song, in which I would be picking someone to come up and sing, finally came. "All right," I said in my guy voice which didn't sound too bad at all. Not too deep and not too high. "Which one of you lucky people want to come up here?" Girls that I saw who are in my Biology class were screaming. I walked across the stage looking for Jake. "How about you? You want to come up?" I asked Jake. He nodded in excitement and I helped him up on the stage.

"We're singing Red Sky." Andy told him, "If you want to, you can sing the melody with Riley or you can sing the harmony with me. It's your choice."

"I'll…do….harmony." Jake answered. Andy handed him a microphone. Kyle began counting off the beats. My voice blended perfectly with Jake's voice. He was amazing! The crowd seemed to like him too. They cheered him on. I knuckle touched Jake when we finished.

"Nice job. You're really good." I complimented. Jake's eyes beamed in joy. The others congratulated Jake in a job well done. When we were leaving the stage, I took one last look at the crowd. I saw a pair of gold eyes in the crowd. So he came to watch. Or at least act like a teenager.


	5. Chapter 5 Explanations

**Chapter 5: Explanations **

_ "__How did it go?" Pepper asked when we got home. She wanted to hear, but she could see that I was worn out. My throat was killing me terribly._

_ "__It was good." My voice cracked. I was losing my voice. Pepper seemed to understand. She ran to the kitchen._

_ "__I'll get you a cup of hot tea to help your throat. It's almost gone." She called. A few minutes later, she came out with a mug of tea. I nodded my thanks. "Just to let you know it's one of those sleepy teas. You might feel sleepy after a few minutes." I finished my tea and looked for a paper and a pen._

___Thanks for the tea. It's helping my throat. The concert was great. The crowd wanted an encore so we gave them one and that's why my voice is nearly gone. I'm going to head off to bed._

_I gave Pepper the note. She read it and gave me a hug. "Hope you feel better." I went to my room and I threw on my PJs and sat out on the deck in my room. The scar on my arm began to sting. He's here. I heard a dull thud and found him sitting next to me. Maybe we should communicate by thought. Or at least I should._

_ "__Hello Riley." Edward greeted. I merely looked at him and said nothing. I pointed at my throat to sign that I lost my voice. He understood. "Ah. Well how about you think what you're going to say. I can read your mind so it will be easier."_

_I thought we weren't going to talk to each other.____ I thought._

_ "__I never said that. What I said was that we can't be friends" Edward replied._

_Quote the song: Why can't we be friends?____ I asked._

_He chuckled at the thought. "It's complicated."_

_Does it have to do with you being a vampire? Then that's not a really good answer.____ I replied._

_ "__Yes it does have to do with me being a vampire. I don't want to hurt you Riley. I care about you a lot." Edward answered. His scent reached me making me even drowsier._

_Edward, Pepper gave me this-_

_"__I'll carry you to your bed." He gently replied. He picked me up in a cradle position. My arms were wrapped around his neck and he carried me to my bed. He pulled back the covers and tucked me in. I drifted off to sleep._

_Why are you doing this?____ I asked sleepily._

_ "__I care about you." He murmured in my ear. Then I heard no more._

_I woke up with a start trying to remember what had happen last night. I opened my mouth remembering how last night I lost my voice. "Vampires exist." I tried to say. I got some words out, but it still hurt. I looked around my room. Edward had left. I got out of my bed and opened the curtains. The cool morning air felt good on me. The clouds were as gray as ever. __He has no reason to hide today.____ I walked downstairs finding Pepper at the table._

_ "__Good morning Riley." She yawned, "How are you feeling today?" I pointed at my throat and shook my head, "Still no voice I see. Well if your friends call, I will tell them that you lost your voice for you." Sure enough the phone rang. It was Sam. "Riley lost her voice last night." The phone rang two more times. It was Jake and Nicole. Again Pepper said, "Riley lost her voice last night."_

_It was bad all day. I decided to sleep some more. I woke up around in the evening at 6. "Hi Pepper." I greeted as I walked in._

_ "__Hey you got your voice back." Pepper was surprised._

_ "__Yep I got it back." I replied. I decided to do a little bit of free-running on the walls. I usually free run on the walls when I get bored. I stood by the couch and took a head start running at a clear space on the wall. I pushed my feet up and ran nearly up the whole wall. I back flipped backwards on the floor when I reached the top. My feet slammed against the floor. Pain shot through my feet as I landed and my eyes began to water._

_Pepper peeked from the side of the table looking at me. "What are you doing?" She asked suspiciously. _

_ "__Nothing. I'm doing absolutely nothing. I'm sitting here bored out of my mind." I gave a fake sigh, "See?" She didn't seem convinced._

_ "__Sure. Whatever." Pepper turned away getting back to work. I ran to the bathroom as quickly as I could. After for sleeping for several hours without going to the bathroom, you really have to pee!_

_After I washed my hands I examined myself in the mirror. My appearance didn't bore me at all. My 5'6 height always made me look a year older than what I normally am. Wavy brown hair that was the same shade as Tony's reached the middle of my shoulders. My arms reached to my thighs. My most interesting physic about me was my eyes. They were a mixture of blue and green. The inside near the pupil, was blue and the outside of the rest of the iris was green. People are always telling me that I have the most interesting eye color. Never would you see me in a dress and wear makeup. I can't stand wearing them. Not even clear nail polish. I wouldn't easily fit in with the girly-girl crowd. Nope not gonna happen in a million years._

_I shut off the light and headed to my room. I started pacing around again not sure what to do. I felt like in a painting mood. I surveyed my room looking for a subject. Then I spotted it; the sun setting over the harbor. I quickly grabbed out my paints, easel, paint brush, and canvas. I set up the easel on the deck facing the setting sun._

_I squeezed out some warm colors for the sun and cool colors for the water. I kept painting until it went down around 8:30. When I finished, I viewed the portrait. I had all of the right effects in a sun reflecting off water. The shimmers were in the right spots. I looked at my paint smeared hands. __It was worth getting messy. But it looks great.____ Then I heard a knock on the door. "You're gonna have to open the door. My hands are covered in paint." I called to the closed door._

_Pepper opened the door carrying my dinner. "Painting again are we?" She asked looking at the newly painted portrait of the setting sun over the ocean. I couldn't help smiling. She sat my dinner on my desk. "Wow that looks beautiful. Is that the harbor?" I nodded, "Wow. You know what? We should hang your paintings around the house. That way whenever we have guests over, they can see your work."_

_ "__Okay." I grinned. "I'm going to go wash up. I kinda got a little messy in the progress."_

_ "__A little," Pepper eyed me, "Try nearly your whole arms." She laughed and I joined. I headed to the bathroom that was a couple of doors down from my room. I cleaned off my hands and headed back to clean up my mess. Pepper must have left while I was washing my hands off. When I came back, a small piece of paper was sitting next to my dinner._

___Nice painting._

_I smiled a small smile. Well that was nice of him to stop by. _

_Sunday passed by quickly. So did Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Today was Friday; our last day of school before Spring Break. Honestly the whole school has gone berserk! Through the past couple of days, Edward really didn't talk to me much. Well, there's tonight to worry about; that so-called "date" with Connor. Man! Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up! Oh well. "Just grit it and get through it" is what Dad always said when he had to do something he didn't like or wasn't going to like. The school day went by quickly and everyone was pouring out of the school before we all knew it._

_I sat on a table that was outside of the school. Out of boredom, I looked around to see who I could find. There's Nick Baines, Angela Jones, some other person, another person, oh yeah and another person I don't know. Then I found him; my gaze tight on him. Thankfully he wasn't looking my way. Sam, Jake, and Nicole came by. "So what are you guys going to do over Break?" asked Nicole._

_ "__Well," Jake started off, "I think I'm going to go to Los Angeles or San Francisco. My parents didn't tell me where exactly in the state we're going to." _

"Um," Sam thought deeply, "I think I'm staying home over Break." They looked at me with questioning looks.

"What?" I asked not clearly in the zone today, "Oh! Right! Spring Break! What am I doing? Hmm let me think. Uh…absolutely nothing, yep I'm free over Break. I'm doing nothing." I rocked back and forth on my feet. I looked around again. The gray weather wasn't dampening anyone's mood today._ Well joy. They don't have a missing brother to worry about._

"Well for starters…." Nicole started bragging. Then I noticed something different. Only Edward was here today at school. None of his siblings were here. _They_ _must be hunting today._ Then I looked at the sky. The clouds had patches of blue sky peeking through them. And _sunlight_! My heart raced with worry. His secret will be exposed! _What's going to happen? Surely he notices the sunlight!_ "Riley!" Nicole barked snapping her fingers to get my attention, "Did you pay attention?"

"Uh yeah um sorry I got to go do something." I quickly said walking away quickly not looking back. As I passed a couple of benches, I broke into a run. Luckily for me, he was standing near the woods. I reached him moments later. Ignoring his bewildered face, I grabbed his hand and ran to the woods. "Come with me if you don't want to be seen." I hissed. He followed. "Run." I ordered as we got near a couple of more trees. He ran his fullest being invisible. I followed him into the woods.

He stood there leaning against a tree shocked. I ran up to him and dropped to the ground. As I caught my breath, he sat down next to me still shocked. "What?" I asked as soon as I caught my breath.

"You saved me. Riley you saved my secret. I was almost exposed to sunlight! Do you know what happens if I'm in sunlight!" Edward's voice was rising.

"A thank you would be nice." I glared. Then suddenly, he burst into laughter. "What? What did I do? What the heck are you laughing at me for?" He continued laughing.

"Riley, you had this priceless look on your face. I thought that you would be afraid of what would happen." Edward calmed down but grinning.

"Well duh! You're a vampire. You sometimes have serious issues with feelings. You practically yelled at me for no stupid reason." I argued.

"Alright I'll stop. Thank you for saving me. I'm forever in your debt." He replied gently. "You know, when you pulled me, which is a lot of strength to have."

"Yeah so what's special about that?" I said. He lay back on his elbows on the forest floor looking up at the tree tops. I lied down next to him.

"That's impossible for humans." He explained, "That is clearly impossible for humans."

"Well what did I do?" I asked, "I did something that can't be done in human nature." He looked at me with curiosity. "Why is everyone looking at me like that today? That's all they've been doing."

He chuckled. "Riley. Never in my whole life have I seen this happen to a human but," He hesitated, "you have some vampire characteristics."

I started at him in shock. "How could that ever happen?"

"I don't know, but it probably had to do something when you drew me and when I accidently gave you the scar." He looked at me with a normal look on his face again.

"Go on."

"You must have somehow absorbed some characteristics from someone. It must have been my fault. You have the strength of one. You probably don't eat much. Tell me, have you experienced some weird things lately?" Edward explained scanning me with his eyes.

I thought back the past couple of days. No I don't think so. No wait! Yes I have! "I didn't eat a whole bunch last week. I wasn't hungry. I've heard Pepper's thoughts last week and your thoughts too. Tony tried to catch me when he chased me the day he left, but he couldn't." I exclaimed excitedly.

"When and where?"

"I heard Pepper's on the day you first came to my room. I was walking down the stairs and I heard Pepper. She was way off in the kitchen and I didn't hear her speak. I heard yours the same day only at lunch. That was when Nicole was looking at you." I thought hard.

"So that's her name." He raised his eyebrows. "She never stops thinking about me or you and how I stare at you. By the way, that night wasn't the first night I've been in your room. I've been watching you in your room while you sleep for the past couple of months. Only I didn't have a solid form. I was transparent."

"Like a ghost." I continued for him.

"Yes but I'm alive in a way. I'm dead you see. Well you know that already." He said as he twiddled his fingers. "You read the book. You know what happens. You know how I was dying." I kept looking at him with curiosity.

"So is this whole vampire characteristics thing bad?" I asked.

"No. It's not. The only time when we would need to worry about you is if you somehow thirsted for blood and you're not a vampire." He looked up. "You should come with me to talk to Carlisle. I'm sure he can explain it." He stood up and grabbed his bag.

"What, now?" I asked in alarm. Edward looked at me in surprise.

"Don't tell me. You're afraid of a house full of vampires." Edward grinned.

"No I'm not. Some of them have attitude problems. What I'm saying is why now?" I answered clearly as I got up.

"I'm sure you want to hear what's going on with you. That's what I thought." He looked back.

"I can't be gone long." I replied. He nodded. I grabbed out my phone and called Happy. I told him that he didn't need to pick me up. I already have a ride. After I hung up, we both walked out of the woods together. "So about tonight, are you going to be there? In case something happens." I asked.

He thought for a few moments. "I don't know really. You know what? I'm just going to drop this whole 'we shouldn't be friends' thing. I mean, we already talk to each other. It's kind of pointless to keep it going." We had a strange silence after that. "But honestly I really don't know."

"So if something does happen, just scream your name in my head?" I wondered.

"If you don't want Connor or Nicole to find out that quick that you know that they planned the whole thing to happen." He replied. We reached his silver Volvo in time that the sunlight was hidden by the gray clouds again. He held open my door for me and I climbed in.

"So I guess you know my secret then." I said. It wasn't a question. He climbed in the driver's seat and turned on the Volvo.

"Yeah I've known it for a couple of days." He confessed. "I think that you are extremely talented though. People don't even know that it's a 15 year old girl playing."

"Well thank you. I saw you there. Just your eyes though. You kinda blended in with the crowd." I grinned. He chuckled. We drove out of the parking lot and headed toward the edge of town.

"Question though." Edward said suddenly. I raised my eyebrows in curiosity.

"What is it that you want to ask?"

"How come you're not telling anyone your secret? Like to the news or something." He said slowly.

"Well," I began, "I really don't want anyone to find out. If they did, then they wouldn't stop following me. Then people would only want to be friends with me just because I'm famous. Unfortunately I had experience in the past with a couple of guys. Only the reason why though they were "friends" with me is because I'm rich. People do a lot of stupid stuff these days just to be noticed. I don't want to be noticed. Already I have enough attention and I don't want anymore. Reporters keep following me and ask if I would take over Stark Industries. I'm 15! I know a little about economy and how messed up it is, but not enough." I surprised myself. I didn't realize that I had this bottled up inside me.

"A well reasoned answer." Edward firmly replied. "People would think that you're different from others just because you have a brother that makes weapons. They don't see that you're just a teenager like the rest of us. Well, others actually. I'm-"

"108 years old." I finished. He looked at me with surprise. "See I know stuff about you. Like your full name is Edward Anthony Mason Cullen. And before you were changed, you had green eyes like your mother." He laughed.

"Well you certainly do know about me." He smiled. We passed the welcome sign already. I looked at his speedometer. "You want me to slow down?" He noticed.

"Nah I like going fast." I replied. The scenery outside changed from buildings to green trees covering everything in shadow.

"Certainly you are not like Bella. She would tell me to slow down. Never believed that I've never had gotten a ticket." Edward viewed. I smiled a little smile at the thought. We continued driving in the woods. There were curves and bends that made us sway a little. Finally we reached his house.

"I take it that Alice, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper were hunting today?" I stated.

"Yes. Jasper really needed it. You know how he is still mastering the difficulty." Edward said as he climbed out. He ran quickly around so fast I didn't see him open my door. I climbed out of the car and looked at the house. Everything was amazing; living out here in the woods instead of on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean.

"Wow." I breathed. "Your house is…amazing." He chuckled as he led the way up to the door.

"Bella had the same reaction too when she first came here." He held open the door to the beautiful home. I sat my bag near the door on a chair. I looked around and spotted the piano where he played at. Esme loves it when he plays. The songs that he composes must sound wonderful. I heard one of them in a dream actually.

"Ooh get a whiff of that." I heard Esme exclaim. I looked up and saw her at the top of the stairs. She climbed down to greet me with a hug. It felt very weird I can tell you that. "Hi. I'm Esme. I see that you already know Edward." She stood back to examine me. "You are as beautiful as Bella." She smiled.

I was taken by surprise. "Oh um thank you." Edward looked at me out of the corner of his eye and stifled a laugh.

"So what brings you here today?" Esme asked. I was about to say something, but I wasn't sure what to say. Thankfully Edward answered for me.

"Riley saved me from being exposed today. If Riley wasn't there, I would be suffering dire consequences with the Volturi. She ran across the school yard and we ran into the woods for safety." Edward answered. Esme stared at me with surprise. Why was everyone staring at me like that today?

"What's this I hear? A girl saved Edward from being seen in sunlight?" a voice called from the end of the living room. I turned to the source and found Carlisle walking in. For a guy who was over 300 years old, he looks like he's in his 20's. His smooth blonde hair glistened in the light. He had a friendly smile on his face. "I'm Carlisle" He shook my hand.

"It's very nice to meet you Carlisle. I'm Riley Stark." I formally introduced.

"A Stark eh, related to Tony Stark?" He asked. I nodded. "Yes I can see some of him in you. I'm very sorry to hear that he's still missing."

"Yeah he's an amazing brother. My parents died a couple of years ago, so he's been taking care of me." I explained. Carlisle nodded in agreement.

"I heard about that. I remember when that happened. So you saved Edward from almost being seen in sunlight?" He changed the subject.

"I guess I did." I flushed. Oh crap they can see how I'm like Bella.

"Riley you guess you did? You know you did." Edward exclaimed. "It wasn't my fault," He turned to his parents, "I was standing near the parking lot and all of a sudden there wasn't a whole bunch of clouds. Riley noticed this and she ran all the way to me and pulled me to the woods just before the sun came out." Carlisle was deep in thought. Esme looked at me with gratitude. While Edward was telling what happened, his siblings joined us. Jasper standing back a little trying not to attack me, Rosalie glared at me. Oh great; getting the same treatment. Emmett was looking at me with interest and Alice was smiling at me.

He continued telling the story and when he finished, Alice and Emmett nearly crushed me in a hug. "Okay-you're-killing-me." I gasped. Everyone except for Rosalie started laughing.

"Well it seems that we have a hero in our midst." Carlisle smiled. "We are in your debt."

"Thank you for saving him." Esme grasped my hands. Emmett fist bumped me.

"Nice." Emmett grinned. Alice smiled at me again. Very happy she is. Jasper smiled and nodded. Didn't want to take a big risk I can understand that. Rosalie didn't say anything. "Say something Rosalie." Everyone waited.

"Great," Rosalie finally said, "we have another human to put us in danger." She then stormed away. Edward came to my side.

"Don't mind her. She's just jealous that you're human. She'll come around eventually." He quietly explained in my ear.

"So Riley, do you have any hobbies?" Carlisle asked. The others were looking curious wondering what a human girl does.

"I have a lot of hobbies actually." I explained. "I play the guitar, the piano, the flute, lots of instruments actually, um I hike, rock climb, swim, paint, draw…" Edward winked, "I do free running every now and then, I fix cars in my spare time with my brother, and I build a whole bunch of electronic things." I listed off. They stared at me in amazement.

"It seems like you are quite the adventurer. You must like music seeing how you play many instruments." Esme said. I nodded.

"Yes. I like music a lot. I can't live without it." I grinned. They chuckled.

"Riley's really good at the guitar. I heard her play last week." Alice commented. "Edward pointed her out on the stage in a band she's in." Before the others could ask, Edward explained how Alice heard me. With my approval, he explained how I'm the famous 15 year old guitar player.

"We will keep your secret safe." Carlisle nodded. "You must be so good you lost your voice that night."

"I did actually. It was really hard to talk to people. I had to write out notes instead." I said. They laughed.

"Um I can show you the house if you want." Edward calmed down.

"Yeah I want to see it." I exclaimed. So he took me on a tour of the house. Alice's room had a computer in her room, Rosalie had fashion ideas in hers, Jasper had books in his, Emmett had a whole bunch of odds and ends in his, and Edward's room had tons of CDs in his. "I guess I'm not the only one who likes music." I noticed.

"Yeah everyone except for Alice, Carlisle, and Esme think that I'm a joke for having so much music and playing." He replied. I looked out one of the windows in his room. The view was quite a sight to see. Like mine, his room had a spectacular view of the woods that surrounded the home. Everything was green. There was a breeze blowing through the windows. He showed me the deck that overlooked the woods.

"It reminds me of my room a little. Only my house is on a cliff instead of being surrounded by woods." I noted.

"That's what I've noticed lately. I didn't mean to kind copy off of your room." Edward quickly said. He looked a bit guilty. I didn't care.

"That's fine. I like it. I like it a lot." I smiled. "So what do you do to entertain yourselves around here?" He thought for a moment and then came up with an idea.

"Climb on my back and hold on tight." He ordered. I did what I was told. Then he launched himself off of the deck onto a tree. "So you're wondering what we do for fun?" I giggled. "Hold on." Then he climbed up the trunk of the tree all the way to the thickest branch. Then he jumped from the tree to another tree with the wind running through my hair. We climbed to the top of the tree and sat on the branches.

"So what do you think?" He asked. I was breath taken. I didn't know what to say.

"I…wow. Just wow. It's really cool. I've never been up this high." I said. So that's what we did that afternoon. We talked to Carlisle about how I might possibly have some vampire characteristics. He said that I do and that it was nothing bad. Edward drove me home around 5:30. "Ah crap I really don't want to do this." He knew I was talking about the "date" with Connor.

"You'll be fine." He coaxed. We stopped at the house. He put his arm around me and rested his chin on my head. "Trust me. You'll be fine." I climbed out of the car and said my thanks. Then I headed into the house to get ready. I was shaking all over. I didn't know what to do.


	6. Chapter 6 Saving

**Chapter 6: Saving**

I told Pepper ahead of time that I was doing something tonight. She wrote it down her book. Ah the book. The book of things Pepper writes down when Tony has those meeting days. She writes in the days that I have stuff so that she remembers them. Like tonight for an example.

I didn't put on a dress for this stupid date. I only let my hair down and straightened it. Didn't feel like doing anything else. At 6:15, I heard Connor honk his car horn to signal that he was here. _Crap! Crapollla! I don't want to do this. I really don't want to!_

"Hi Riley," Connor greeted me in a cheery voice. "So what did you do today?"

I put on a fake smile. "Not much." I lied. He bought it. "What did you do today?"

"Well I played some football with my friends, hung out with them and Nicole. I mean uh I hung out with them and Nicole Peterson. Not Nicole Denton. Psh no way would I hang out with her. She's weird. Did I tell you that you look nice tonight?" He changed the subject.

Okay clearly he was terrible at lying. My phone rang. "'Scuse me, my phone is ringing." I answered it. "Hey Jake."

"How did you know it was me?" Jake asked.

"I have a certain ring when you call. So why did you call?" I answered.

"I just wanted to tell you to be careful tonight with Connor." Jake continued. Then he hung up. So he still didn't forget the dream that I told him and Sam about. Connor started to drive to the movie theater.

"So what did nerdy Adams call for?" Connor sneered.

"Nothing you need to know." I replied coldly. We drove in silence to the movies. We parked at one of those parking decks a couple of blocks away. When we got to the concession stand, he asked me if I wanted anything. "No. I'm not hungry." I answered firmly. I wanted to hit him so bad. If I did, then he would know.

He bought himself a tub of popcorn and some candy. We gave the usher our tickets and went to our seats. We were watching some stupid football movie I didn't care about. I sat in my seat shaking. Not because I was cold, after this he would take me to an alley and attack me.

"Are you cold?" He whispered. I shook my head. We sat in silence for the rest of the movie. I didn't pay attention. I had my mind on something else. The movie ended and he threw his empty tub and boxes in the garbage. When we headed out, I was going toward the direction the parking deck was. He pulled me gently toward an alley. "Let's go this way. We can talk to each other." So we walked down the alley. The one I saw in my dream. In one of the corners, Nicole would be standing there.

Suddenly, he shoved me against a building. Two more oh his friends came out of the shadows. Pain shot up my back. He grabbed me around the throat and pinned me against the wall. Then he dropped me and they kicked me in the stomach, knocking the wind out. I struggled trying to break free. With tremendous effort, I managed to scream. "EDWARD!" My scar began to sting. "You're in deep trouble now."

"What are you talking about?" Connor demanded. But he soon found out. Connor was forced to release me. I fell to the ground. I stood up coughing hard. I got my breath back. I looked up and found Edward standing in front of Connor. I heard him growling at Connor. "What the heck?" Connor yelped. Edward then grabbed him by the cuffs of Connor's jacket and slammed him against the building.

He stared at him deep in the eyes with a glare. "You will leave her and her friends alone." He snarled. He let him go and Connor and his gang ran away in fright. He walked over to me and picked me up the same way he carried me to my bed last week. "Are you okay Riley? Did he hurt you?" He asked in his gentle voice. He checked my arms and legs and my lower back. He growled in anger. On my right arm, there was a deep wound. My head was dizzy after Connor dropped me and Edward's scent was making me dizzier. The injury didn't help either.

"He slammed me against the building." I answered him. He carried me to his Volvo and sat me in the passenger's seat. I buckled myself in. He ran to the other side of the car to get me out of here.

"I'm going to take you to Carlisle to have him help you. After that I'll take you home." Edward went through the details. I nodded an ok. He drove us to his house where Alice was waiting on the porch with worry on her face.

"She got hurt didn't she?" Alice asked as soon as Edward carried me to the door. He didn't set me down. Edward nodded a yes. Alice held the door open and we found and Esme waiting there. "They know. I drew it out on a sheet of paper."

"What happened?" Carlisle asked in a stern voice. Edward laid me on a couch.

"She got attacked by a kid from school. A kid named Connor Daniels. He nearly choked her to death. He was holding her against a building and he threw her against it which cut her arm open." Edward explained. His eyes were full of hate. I could understand. "Alice, get Jasper somewhere else." She did what she was told.

Carlisle knelt next to me examining my back. "Well you don't have anything on your back. Now I need you to sit up so we can see what's on your arms." I did what I was told. He examined my arms. "You're going to need some stitches on the right arm." He went to his office and grabbed some supplies. While I sat on the couch, Carlisle stitched my arm with no problem. Edward sat next to me and I leaned my head against him.

"This really sucks." I mumbled. He rubbed my good arm gently while Carlisle continued his work.

When he finished, he looked at Edward. "You can take at her home. If you want to stay with her for a little while longer to make sure she's safe, you have my permission to do so."

Edward bent over and gently pulled me into his arms. "I think I will have to carry you. You 're too tired to move." Edward chuckled. Alice held the door open for us. She smiled and waved good bye.

"Hope you get better." She wished me. I smiled back at her. Carlisle opened the car door for Edward and he sat me in the seat again. He closed the door, but didn't get in yet. Carlisle started to talk to Edward. He listened to Carlisle. It looked like he was getting scolded. They were talking so low I couldn't hear them.

After they finished talking for a few more moments, Edward climbed in and drove me home.

When we got to my house, he carried me to the door. As he carried me, I made a thought. "Pepper's going to think that you did something to me." I chuckled.

He grinned. "I would never hurt you." I rang the doorbell. Moments later, Pepper opened the door. Her eyes were wide. She stared at Edward. Then she stared at me.

"Honestly Pepper, he's not my boyfriend, he's a very good friend of mine from school. He saved my life. Connor jumped me." I confessed. Pepper held the door open for us.

"Come in." She said. She closed the door behind us. Edward sat me on the couch and sat next to me. Pepper walked over to me. "So what happened exactly?"

I took a deep breath and told the story. I told her how I was played. She sat on my other side and put an arm around me. She looked at Edward with grateful eyes.

"Thank you Edward." Pepper said. She got up and asked us, "Are you two hungry?" We shook our heads. "Riley let me know if you need anything." I nodded.

Edward looked around. "Nice living room." I couldn't help chuckling. "What?" He looked at me.

"It's nothing." I lied. He didn't seem convinced, but he didn't ask about it. I reached for the remote and turned on the Discovery Channel. Mythbusters was on. Tonight's episode was the Super See Saw Saga. "It's a new episode tonight."

"You like watching Mythbusters?" Edward asked. I leaned my head on his should feeling drowsy.

"Yeah you'll see why." I mumbled. I managed to stay awake for the whole episode. I watched them launch the crash test dummy up high in the air. Pepper joined us right before they launched it. We all laughed when we watched it being thrown up in the air.

"I can see why now." He murmured in my ear. I was falling asleep, but I could hear everything still.

"Aw she fell asleep on you." I heard Pepper. Edward chuckled softly in my ear. "She looks like an angel when she sleeps." Pepper added.

"She does look beautiful." Edward commented. "I'll carry her to her room."

"Her bedroom is the second door on the right upstairs." Pepper directed. He didn't need directions where my room was at. He's been there before. I felt us going up the stairs and heard him turn the door knob. I felt him laying me down on my bed and pulling the covers on me. Then he did something that took me by surprise. He sat next to me and stayed with me.

"Sweet dreams." He softly said. Then I really fell asleep.

My stitched arm was aching when I got up the next morning. I remembered everything and what happened. I noticed something on my desk. I got up and walked to it. A glass of water and a couple of painkillers were sitting out for me. I took them with the glass of water and within a few minutes, my back didn't hurt so much. I looked in a mirror and flattened out my hair and brushed it. When I sat on my bed, I noticed something. I heard music. I heard piano music. I grinned as I head out the door. I walked downstairs and found Edward at the piano.

I sat down next to him as he played. I recognized the tune. When he finished playing, he greeted me with his crooked smile. "You were playing Bella's lullaby." I noticed. He put an arm around me.

"Good morning to you too," Edward said. "I see you recognize it." I looked at him deep in the eyes. They were a liquid topaz today. He'll have to hunt soon.

"Yeah I remembered it when I dreamed about it. That was when you gave me the scar by accident." I replied.

"You're never going to let me forget that are you?" He asked.

"Nope I won't." I answered. "How long have you been here?"

"Awhile," Edward said. "I've been here since you fell asleep. First, after you fell asleep, I drove home. Then I ran back and stayed with you in your room while you were sleeping. Very fascinating dreams by the way, they're very interesting. Anyway I left around 4:00 in the morning to change my clothes and came back again. I went back to your room. Pepper left around 7:00, I went downstairs to the piano and played for a bit until you came down." I looked at the clock on the wall; 8:15.

"So what do you want to do today?" I asked not sure about today.

He shrugged. "Well cloudy weather today, I'm guessing that there will be a thunderstorm later today, so maybe we could play baseball with my family."

"Really, I'm finally going to see how baseball works for you. I know you need the thunder, but I mean I'm really going to witness this." I responded. He nodded.

"That reminds me," He began, "if we are, then I need to call Carlisle." He got up and pulled out his cell phone and dialed Carlisle's number. While he did this, I thought of a song to play. Oh wait. I know. Halo 3's "Never Forget". A very beautiful piano piece I like. I consider this as my lullaby, so I learned how to play it by ear.

So I began. Edward was in the middle of talking, so I played quietly. He was watching me play while he talked. My fingers floated over the ivory keys forming the song. I didn't hear him get off. I was lost in the music. Just as I joined him when he played, he did the same thing. He never took his eyes off of the keys. When I finished, I looked up at him.

"That was beautiful. What is it called?" He complimented. He was curious. Like a little boy discovering something new.

"Um I'm not sure if you would recognize what it's from." I shrugged. "It's from this game from Halo 3. The song is called "Never Forget". At times like these like when my brother's missing, you can find me play it very often these days. Pepper's heard me play it a whole bunch, but she likes to hear it though."

"I've think I've heard of the game. I'm not so sure. We usually don't have video games because as you can see, we really don't need them. But after you played this song, I think I might check it out." Edward said.

"The song's on the main menu if you want to hear it. Whenever I listen to it, I always feel like I'm seeing something from someone's point of view about something. But the reason why I play it is because, before Tony went missing, he would always ask me to play it. Every day he would ask me. 'Riley can you play the song for me?' He would always grin whenever he hears it." I explained.

"So you play it to never forget him." Edward stated. It wasn't a question.

"Yes." I said shortly. I felt like crying my eyes out, but I didn't. No more tears left. "There's other songs that you might like that I know about that are just piano music that has some other instruments in it. One that I know that I have stuck in my head all the time is this song that's heard in this show called Doctor Who. It's supposed to be a slow waltz, but you don't think of it as a slow waltz."

"Well what's it called then? I want to know. Maybe I could play it for you whenever I see you." Edward asked looking curious again.

"It's called Madame de Pompadour. Some other ones are The Face of Boe, another one is called Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home has this great middle part that you would like. There's a whole bunch of music from the series that you would like." I listed off. He smiled as I named them off.

"Well it seems that I have a lot of work to do then." Edward said.

"Oh you don't have to do that. Really you don't. Besides, it's not fair for Bella." I insisted. He cut me off.

"I want to though. Who knows, maybe you'll get me into watching the show."

"If you are, then you have a lot of catching up to do. So what did Carlisle say about the game?" I said.

"He says it's on." He replied with a smirk. "Whenever we play, I'm always going against him. He can hit hard though. The funny thing that Esme says is that Jasper hits the hardest, but I run the fastest." I started laughing. "So let's go ahead to my house and we'll wait there. It's going to rain soon." I grabbed my jacket and called Pepper to let her know where I'll be.

"Hang on I got to call Jake and Sam. They were worried about me last night." I explained. He waited for me then. I called Jake, but he didn't pick up. "Hey Jake it's me Riley. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm okay. So no need to freak out about last night I'm safe." Then I dialed Sam. She picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?" Sam's voice greeted me.

"Sam it's me. I'm fine. I called Jake about last night and I'm perfectly safe. I guess I have someone watching out for me." I eyed Edward. Sam sighed with relief.

"That's good. So what are you going to do today?" She asked.

"Um I'm actually going to be hanging out with Edward today." I explained. She went into details that I predicted she would do. "No…Sam….wait…he's here. He can hear what you're saying." That shut her up. "I'm sorry. I got to go. I'll tell him that you said hi okay?"

"Okay. Thanks for calling me so I'm not freaking out." She hung up after that. Well that went well-ish.

"Well hello to Sam." Edward snuck up behind me grinning.

"Gah don't do that! You practically scared the crap out of me." I whacked him on the arm. He would feel no pain at all. He smirked. We headed out the door. "You didn't bring your car back." I noticed when we got outside. The dark gray clouds hung menacingly over, threatening to shower us with cold rain.

"Yeah I thought we might travel there the fun way." He said. My heart jumped. We were going to run there! He helped me onto his back. "Hang on real tight. And I mean real tight." I chucked. "You're not going to freak out like Bella are you?"

"No I'm really psyched for this. I've always wanted to travel like this." I proved him wrong.

"Okay." He didn't sound sure. We then took off. It was really interesting. Instead of screaming, I was laughing. "Why are you laughing? Aren't you scared?"

"No!" I had to shout over the noise, "This is really cool! It makes you want to laugh if you're this fast!" For some reason, _he_ started laughing. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because," He called over his shoulder, "you're absolutely right about it!" I grinned. Everything was a blur; a blur of dark colors. "Hang on!" We then jumped over a gorge and landed. He didn't stop running until we got to his house. Alice was waiting there for us on the porch.

I jumped down from his back. "You saw me coming didn't you?" I asked. She ran and greeted me with a hug. She started laughing. "What is it with you guys laughing?" I said as I let go.

"I love your personality. It's just like Bella's, but different. You say different things from her, but you think like her." She continued laughing. _Edward she is an amazing human._ I gasped. She looked at me with alarm. "What? What is it?"

"I heard your thoughts. That's the second time I've heard a vampire's thoughts." I exclaimed. She looked at me curiously.

"What did I say then?" She asked.

"Edward she is an amazing human." I quoted. She and Edward chuckled.

"Who else have you heard? She asked another question.

"Edward's and Pepper's thoughts. That's all I heard of."

"Hmm," Alice said thinking.

"What Alice?" Edward asked. She kept looking at him. Then she looked at me.

"I've always been wondering what goes on in his head. What did you hear him say when you heard him?" She asked anxiously.

"You're right; I do get that a lot." I said. Edward looked at me with a stern look. "What? You admit it too." Remembering why he said that to me.

"What was the reason why?" Alice asked another one.

"I think that reason would be a personal answer." I explained. Edward looked at me with a strange look on his face.

_Why don't you tell her?_

_I have reasons Edward._

_And the reasons would be?_

_You don't want to tell her about it. She'll think it's really weird. Trust me._

_No it won't._

_Yeah it will._

_No it won't._

_Yes it will._

_Nope._

_Yes._

_Nope._

_Yes._

_Nope._

_Yes._

_Nope._

_Yes._

_Yes._

_Nope._

_Aha! I got you!_

_Dang it Edward! Tony does that to me all the time! You're just like him._

_Is that bad? I don't want to hurt you._

_No you're not hurting me. In fact, it's funny actually._

_How so?_

_Because._

_Because why?_

_Just, because._

_Riley, 'just because' is not a good answer._

_I know._

_Then why are you saying it?_

_It's funny hearing what you think about stupid answers._

_I do not think about stupid answers._

_Are you sure?_

_Yes……….no. Gah! Stop getting into my head._

_Hey you're in mine too you know if you're forgetting that._

_Fine then, let's just talk about something without mind reading._

_Fine, but I like driving other people crazy because they try to figure out what we're talking about. _

_I know. _Alice stared at us. I stared back at her only with wide eyes. She then burst into laughter.

_Is it always this easy to make her laugh?_

_Sad to say; yes it's that easy to make her laugh._ He held the door open and we walked in.

_Edward_

_Huh?_

_Guess what?_

_What?_

_Just because!_

_DANG IT RILEY!_ I snorted into laughing. Alice was still laughing.

"What are you laughing about? I want to know what's funny." Emmett called from the T.V.

"Emmett you wouldn't understand. I'm even sure Rosalie wouldn't get it because all she does is glare. This time Edward started laughing and Emmett joined too. Alice stopped laughing abruptly. The rest of us stopped too. "She's right behind me isn't she?" I said. They nodded. I turned around slowly looking at Rosalie.

She glared at me with black eyes. _Oh crap not a good time to say something like that._ "Just because I glare doesn't give me one reason why I should kill you." She threatened darkly with a growl. She stormed away.

I turned around back at them staring at them with an open mouth. "You could have told me that she was right behind me!" They didn't look at me; only at each other. They started sniggering and it turned to laughter.

I looked at Emmett._ Man she's hilarious. If I was alive, I think I might die from laughter._ His thoughts were.

"Oh that was so funny I forgot to laugh." I said sarcastically. Emmett padded me on the shoulder.

"Relax Riley. She'll get over it." He said. Esme and Carlisle came bustling in.

"It's time." Esme smiled.


	7. Chapter 7 The Unexpected

**Chapter 7: The Unexpected**

Everyone was pumped for the game they were going to play in a few minutes. "You excited Riley?" Emmett asked.

"I'm very excited." I replied. We were all standing outside and the thunder was rumbling from far off somewhere in Malibu. Emmett was swinging a metal bat and Rosalie was sulking next to him still glaring at me.

"Just you wait Riley." Emmett bragged, "I'm the best player out of the whole family." Edward, Alice, Jasper, Esme, and Carlisle came out of the house with a couple of things.

"You wish you were Emmett." Edward called. Emmett ran and jumped on his back, giving him a noogie. Edward threw him off of his back and they started fighting.

"Hey you two," Esme separated them, "at least try to act mature enough in front of our guest." Alice and I giggled.

"Are they always like this?" I asked her quietly. She turned to my direction.

"Yeah they usually are most of the time." She continued giggling. "We're going to run there to the field. It's not far off, but it's in a clearing in the woods away from town." Edward motioned me to climb on his back. The rest were carrying the equipment.

"Alright," Carlisle called, "let's get moving." Then we all took off. I looked next to me and saw Alice running and laughing with Jasper. Emmett was grinning on my other side, while Rosalie was running next to him with no expression at all. Carlisle and Esme were behind us. Edward and I were the first to reach the field. I slid down from his back.

"You weren't kidding when you said that you're the fastest in the family." I grinned.

"I told you so. Now would I ever kid around you?" He asked.

"Yes." I answered sniggering. Edward looked at me with a blank expression on his face.

"I wasn't looking for an actual answer, but that will have to do. Here they come." Edward responded. Just as he said it, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper stopped next to us. This time I didn't jump for I had gotten use to it when they appear out of nowhere.

"Okay let's split up." Carlisle called. Esme guided me over to where she would be standing.

"I need your help with umpiring," Esme said, "the boys over there cheat."

"We don't cheat!" Emmett called from the field. Esme smirked.

"Oh I know you cheat!" Esme called back. They took their places on the field. Alice was on the pitcher's mound. Just like in the book when Bella was here. Emmett was at bat getting ready for the pitch. Alice threw the ball and I saw it come towards Emmett. He swung and the ball cracked as loud as the thunder. I grinned as I saw the ball fly off towards the woods and Edward dash after it.

"Esme," I nudged her, "I could see the ball when Alice threw it and Emmett hit it."

"Now it really proves about you. You really do have vampire characteristics in you." She smiled. "That's impossible for a human to see something travel that fast, but technically, you're human with vampire traits in you." Emmett was running around the bases, but I saw Edward appear out of the woods. He threw the ball with all his might to Esme. Emmett was a couple of inches away, but Esme caught the ball and tagged the base. "You're out!" Emmett looked at me grinning.

"Hmm now what was that you said about being the best player on the team?" I asked. Emmett's grin turned to a scowl. Everybody else started laughing, even Rosalie.

_Well this human can certainly crack jokes._ Rosalie's thoughts were. I smirked as I heard her thoughts. We continued playing. When Edward was at bat, he started showing off as I watched. He swung his bat and twirled it in circles and threw it up in the air and caught it.

"You know you're a showoff." I told him. Again I made everyone laugh. Rosalie was laughing again too. Edward just stuck his tongue out at me. I stuck mine back.

"Riley you're very entertaining." Esme commented. I laughed.

"I guess it runs through the family. You should see Tony. In fact, maybe all of you should meet him once the army finds him." I responded. Esme laughed. She found me amusing. Well at least I have a spot in this family. Whenever I look as Esme, I see her as a mother I've never had. She has that "mother" look that fits her well. She did in fact have a child, but he died a couple of days after he was born. She jumped off a cliff and ended up in the same hospital where Carlisle was working at. You can guess what happened next. My mom died with my dad in a car crash so that makes Tony and I orphans. Whenever I look at Carlisle, I see him as an awesome dad. He's not really my dad, but he would make a great one if I was living with them. Whenever I see Edward, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and even Rosalie, I think of them as brothers and sisters. They goof off with each other, sometimes argue, but it's suppose to be like that.

"I'm surprised you're making Rosalie laugh. She hardly does anymore." Esme noticed. I nodded.

"Me too, I bet you heard her encounter with me this morning when I came." I said.

She laughed. "Yes I did. I heard Edward, Alice, and Emmett laughing too when you found out that she was behind you." Our game continued. Jasper was up batting. Whenever he looked at me with a pained look, I helped him focus from biting me.

"Go Jasper! I hear you hit harder than Emmett!" I cheered. "And Emmett brags about being the best on the team." Emmett scowled again. Oh this was great. I enjoyed it a lot.

"Hey!" Emmett whined. Was he actually whining? Oh that is just terrible. He's way older than me and he's whining. Jasper swung the bat very hard against the ball. You would think that the ball would split in two, but it didn't. It might after the game though. Rosalie dashed to the woods to grab the ball, but Edward got to home first before he could get out. Jasper was too quick for Rosalie too.

We played for hours, but it felt like around like an hour. Edward's team won the game. This was one of the few times they beat Carlisle at baseball. Edward helped me get on his back and we all headed back to the house. When we got there, the ball split in two. Luckily, the bat was made of a hard metal and didn't have any dents in it. Edward took me home in his Volvo. I fell asleep in the car on the ride home. I was pretty tired that day. When we got to my house, he shook me gently.

"Riley. Riley." His voiced penetrated the darkness of my sleep. I opened my eyes sleepily. "Hello. Did you have a nice nap?"

"Yes I did. I really needed it too." I said. "Thank you for having me over today and for the ride home." I climbed out of the car.

"You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow." He waved good bye. I waved back and closed the door. He didn't leave until I went in the house.

"Welcome home Ms. Stark." Jarvis greeted.

"Hello Jarvis." I greeted back. I headed down to the deck. I found Pepper sitting at the table. She fell asleep with her head down on the table. I smiled. I looked around the room deciding what to do. I went to the monitor and checked to see if we had any messages. A message popped up saying that Obadiah was calling. I answered it. "Hello Obie."

"Hey Riley, how are you doing?" Obadiah asked.

"I'm doing pretty well. I'm holding up. How about you" I replied.

"Fine, just fine. Hey is Pepper there?" He asked.

"She fell asleep on the table. She didn't drink anything like beer or a vodka martini. I didn't smell any alcohol." I smirked. Obadiah chuckled.

"Tired thing. Hey are you doing anything tonight?" Obadiah asked another question.

"I'm hanging out with a couple of friends at the movies. We're going to the Rave to see a movie that starts in an hour. I'll be heading out in about ten minutes or so." I answered.

"Well don't let me keep your friends waiting. Bye Riley." He said.

"Bye Obie." I said and hung up. Ten minutes passed and I was standing outside. Jake and Sam were in Jake's Black Mercedes Benz. "Hi guys."

"Hey Riley." They greeted. Sam moved to the back so I sat next to Jake. Sam was smiling at me.

"So?" She asked like a little kid, "How did your date with Edward go?" Jake stiffened in his seat.

"It wasn't a date Sam." I assured Jake. He relaxed a little. "His family and I played baseball." Sam arched her eyebrows.

"Baseball, Riley you hung out with the hottest guy in school and you played baseball with him and his family?" She asked. I rolled my eyes and laid my head on the headrest.

"I don't need your scolding 'mother'. We really didn't do much because it was thundering." I said sarcastically. Jake relaxed even more. Something really weird is going on with him. Maybe I can read his mind.

_What's so special about Edward Cullen? Well at least Riley is only friends with him. Maybe I should sit next to her during the movie. Possibly hold her hand in the dark. Sam wouldn't see. Oh I hope she likes me more than a friend._ I gasped a little trying to hold it down so they wouldn't notice.

He likes me. Jake Adams likes me. Wow. So then we drove off to the Rave. When we were at a stoplight, Jake smiled at me. "What?" I asked.

"I'm just glad that you're okay." He replied. _She's beautiful even if she is hurt._ Suddenly, there was a bright light on my right. A semi-truck was heading straight towards us! It crashed into my side breaking my right arm. My shoulder was pierced by glass. Twisted metal cut my legs and arms. "Riley! Riley are you okay?"

"Sam! Jake! Are you okay?" I frantically asked. I hurt so badly.

We're fine." They assured. "Oh my-Riley we need to get you to a hospital!" My vision was flickering. Soon, I would black out._ I'm going to die._ I thought. Faintly, I could hear people screaming. I heard someone yell to call an ambulance.

"Riley! Riley!" A voice screamed my name. I heard someone pull the door open and lift me out of the twisted Black Mercedes. The person's hands felt cool on my skin.

"Edward," I said soft enough for him to hear "hold your breath."

"I am. I can't smell your blood. We're getting you to the hospital." Edward coaxed. I heard an ambulance siren close by. "We're going to get you help." The siren got closer and closer. I heard more voices.

"Young man put her here on the gurney." A man from the ambulance instructed. I felt Edward set me down very gently trying not to so much pain for me. It hurts so much! I felt them strap me in and set me in the ambulance. "Can you tell me what your name is?" The man asked.

"My name's Riley Stark." I gasped. My vision flickered. It hurt to breath.

"Tony Stark's sister?" he asked. I nodded. "Riley we are going to help you. My name is John Tyler. We already contacted the St. Peter Hospital where you'll be staying at. Dr. Cullen will take care of you." _Carlisle!_ He would know what to do. It was a short ride to the hospital. My heart was beating fast. I might die. Tony will never know until he gets here someday and will see I'm not there. He could never hear me play again. Pepper would be alone. I was transferred from the ambulance to the hospital where nurses were running to help.

"Riley!" Carlisle's voice called. "What happened?" He was beside me instantly. His face was full of worry and concern.

"I was going to the movies with some friends. Then a semi-truck crashed into us." I weakly explained. "It hurts."

He put a comforting hand on me. "I know. I'm going to help you." He directed them to put me in a special room. They removed the glass that was one of the main problems I was hurting so much. I found out that I had a gash on my stomach and my arm was broken. They fixed me up, but my breathing got slower and slower.

"Riley. All of these nurses are vampires. They are nearly as old as I am. So they are used to the scent of human blood. You're dying from blood loss. I need to ask you one question." Carlisle explained kneeling next to me.

"Yes?" I asked him looking into his face.

"The only way to save you is to bite you." He said.

"Do it." I said. "I'm ready."

"It's going to be painful, process, but if this is your choice then I will do so." He added.

"I know the consequences and I will deal with them. I want to do this." I answered in a firm voice. He pushed back my hair away from my neck.

"I will help. Everyone in the family will help." Carlisle told me in my ear. I nodded an okay. He took a deep breath and I felt his teeth sink into my neck. It was excruciating pain. The venom entered my bloodstream all over my systems. Then Carlisle held as long as he was supposed to. He did it. I writhed in pain and screamed. "Hold her down!" Carlisle ordered. They did so.

"Carlisle," I asked. I looked into his eyes. Mine would soon be like them. "Thank you." He nodded. Then I closed my eyes and let the venom take effect of me. For three days I would burn.


	8. Chapter 8 The Burning Fire

**Chapter 8: The Burning Fire**

I never knew that I could feel this much pain and not die. Everything was on fire. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't open my mouth. Reason why I'm not screaming is because I was practically dead. I lost a lot of blood in my body. I didn't open my eyes. Bella went through the same pain. She too was practically dead when she was bitten.

"How is she?" I heard Edward ask Carlisle.

"She's very stable. She's going to make it Edward. Don't worry." Carlisle explained.

"Why did you bite her then? Why? She had a great life Carlisle." Edward argued.

"This was her choice Edward. She was almost dead. It's what she wanted." Carlisle said in a stern voice. "You're just going to have to accept that. She's one of us now."

_Edward, stop. _

_What?_

_I said stop. Stop yelling at Carlisle. This is what I chose._

"I heard her." Edward gasped through the shock.

"What?" Carlisle anxiously asked.

"I heard her thoughts. She told me to stop yelling at you. You were right. This is what she chose." Edward's voice sounded like it was going to break. I felt his hands in mine.

I don't remember what day it is. All that I remember is that I got in a car crash, there was so much pain, I was nearly dead from blood loss, and Carlisle saved me by biting me. I didn't even want to try talking. I would scream if I did. I didn't even want to try talking to Edward by mind reading. The burning of the morphine spread to my fingers, toes, heart, and head, basically everywhere. I heard others come in.

"Oh she's going to look incredible!" Alice squealed.

"Careful Pixie, don't lose it." Emmett warned sniggering.

"Emmett." Esme warned in a stern voice. He was silent after that. "So Alice's vision became true?"

"Yes it did. The truck driver that hit her did it on purpose too. He didn't slow down at all." Carlisle explained.

"She doesn't look like she got hurt at all." Rosalie said. _Rosalie?_ What was she doing here? I heard a movement of clothing and I heard footsteps. I felt someone place their hand on my head. It felt strange on my head. I wanted to shake it off, but I couldn't move.

"It's the morphine. It heals all of the injuries she had. Just like what happened to Esme." Carlisle said. "Her legs, arms, and right shoulder, were badly cut. She had a gash on her stomach that almost cut her stomach open releasing stomach acids to kill the organs. That's a slow painful way to die."

It was Edward's hand on my head. "Her heart rate is increasing Carlisle." I didn't know that until he pointed it out. My heart was fast like a wild mustang galloping over the prairie grasslands.

"That means that it's almost over. By tomorrow night, she'll be done." Carlisle said.

The burning was dying. It left me. Only my throat was burning. _That's the thirst!_ Wow that feels weird! My heart was racing to the end. The burning in my heart was leaving. My heart got slower and slower. Then with one beat, it gave its last and died. Never again would I hear it beat. I opened my eyes slowly to get used to the light. I sat up in the hospital bed. Yep I was still there. I looked around. I could see everything. It was like a whole new world opened up to me.

I could see the fluorescence in the light bulbs above me. I could see anything that was impossible to see as a human. I could hear people outside the room talking. I could even hear people down the floors talk. I could smell everything, I could taste the air around me, and I was able to do a lot of things.

Edward was sitting next to me watching. I looked at him and I could see how gold his eyes were. "How do you feel Riley?" Carlisle asked.

"I feel perfectly fine." I said. My voice sounded a little different than what it normally does. Just a tad bit higher, but that was it. Thank you for not completely changing my voice! Edward gave me a noogie. I punch him on the shoulder.

"Ow." Edward said, "That actually hurt. You're stronger than me. I bet that Emmett would lose to an arm wrestle against you." I laughed. It sounded like my old laugh. "So what do you think?"

I cocked my head thinking. "I think that it's incredible. Thank you Carlisle." He reached down and gave me a hug.

He chuckled. "Sure thing Riley, now why don't we let the others in?" He opened the door.

_What do you think their reactions might be?_

_I think Esme and Alice will hug you, Emmett with punch you in the shoulder and Rosalie will just glare at you._

_Oh that's a nice prediction._

"You look amazing!" Alice ran in and hugged me. Well one prediction was right. She let go and Esme hugged me. Yep another one was correct.

"How are you feeling?" Esme asked sitting back and taking a look at me. She smiled her "mom" smile.

"I feel really good. I'm bouncy for some reason though." I added. Emmett came and gave me a hug. "I challenge you to an arm wrestle later."

He laughed. "I see Edward wants to test your strength against me." I nodded. Rosalie did the unthinkable. She hugged me too. Now that was really surprising.

"I think I learned to like the ex-human-now-vampire." She said. I grinned at her and she grinned back. I looked back at Edward. He came over and gave me a hug.

"I haven't hugged you yet." He said. _That's really shocking that Rosalie gave you a hug._

_I know it is!_ Carlisle cleared his throat.

"I'm sure you know that the burning in the back of your throat is the thirst." I nodded. I forgot about it. When Carlisle mentioned it, it burst into flame. "That's strange." Carlisle observed.

"What?" The rest of us asked.

"She can smell human blood and taste it in the air, but she's not going insane." He explained.

"Am I supposed to?" I asked.

"Well normally no, but I know only one person who is able to do this and the same thing happened to her when she was first transformed into a vampire." Carlisle continued.

"Bella." I answered not even a question. He nodded.

"That's just bizarre though. That doesn't happen very often." He said still observing me.

"Well I guess I'm different from other vampires." I said. They agreed.

For the rest of that week, I stayed in the hospital playing get well. Pepper visited me on Wednesday now remembering that I finished my transformation on Monday. Sam and Jake visited me on Friday whom both escaped the crash with minor cuts and bruises. They were near airbags to help them. I unfortunately, was not. I was surprised that Nicole had the guts to visit me on Saturday.

"I know the truth about you Nicole." I glared at her. She glared back at me.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. I continued staring at her.

"You paid Connor Daniels to jump me and almost hurt really bad." I explained. She flushed. Her scent drew near me._ Stay calm Riley. Just stay calm._ My hands curled into fists and venom flowed in my mouth.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She lied. _How did she figure it out? Connor did something wrong._

"Now do yourself a favor and get out." I darkly said. She continued to glare at me as she headed out the door.

"Well that went well." Edward said popping in. "You have been able to control yourself when you were mad. That's very good for a newborn vampire. I'm impressed. I'll have to tell Carlisle."

"Tell me what?" Carlisle joked. He could hear Nicole arguing with me from where he was at. Three floors down. "I hear that you controlled your anger so you wouldn't attack Nicole." I nodded. "That's good, very good in fact."

Later that day, Alice stopped by with my clothes. I would be able to go home now that my act is over. "Make sure you come by over tonight." Carlisle whispered in my ear. I nodded. Happy and Pepper were waiting outside in the cloudy weather for me by the car. Alice also brought me color contacts that matched my old eye color. Newborn vampires have red eyes when they are first transformed. Once they get used to being a vampire, their eyes turn black when they haven't hunt in awhile or a golden brown when they've recently hunted. Sometimes their eyes will be red when they hunt on humans instead of animals. Pepper greeted me with a hug.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Better than I did last week." I said.

"Well you made a remarkable recovery." She noticed.

"My injuries weren't too bad." I replied. She put an arm around me and we got in the car. Happy drove us home where I had a welcome home party. "Pepper you didn't have to do this."

"I wanted to. Everyone was worried sick about you. They were so happy when they found out that you're okay." Pepper insisted. She held the door open for me and I walked in.

"Surprise!" Everyone yelled. I smiled. I saw Sam, Jake, Edward, other friends from school, some aunts and uncles, and to my distaste, Nicole. If only Tony was here. Pepper seemed to know what I was thinking.

"If only Tony was here eh?" She asked. I nodded.

"Yeah." I replied. I walked over to my guests to greet them and let them know that I'm perfectly fine. _Pepper invited you I take?_

_Yes. After that saving incident from last Friday, she took gratitude towards me. Also, I came over to help you get through this. Its more people than some had visited you._

_I'm fine with that._ Edward grinned. I looked over at Nicole who was turned away from me. Her thoughts weren't very pleasant to me.

_Riley thinks she's so special. She gets all the attention. Being hurt and in the hospital for a week yeah right. Why that little-_

Ok I'm going to stop knowing the next few pleasant words that she would choose to call me. _Those are very nice choice of words. _Edward laughed. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Hey Riley," I heard Jake's voice and his arms around me in the form of a hug. I grinned. I turned around and gave him a proper hug. "How are you feeling today?"

"A lot better than I was in the hospital. I was hurting very badly, so what about you?" I explained.

"I've been fine. I don't think Nicole is though. She's been putting on this sob story about you almost dying in the hospital. But that's not true. Living proof that you're alive, you're right here." Jake replied.

"Yeah" I faked laughed. _How did she know that?_

_Honestly Riley I absolutely have no idea how she does._ Edward replied grimly.

_Well somehow she does._ I said.

The rest of the party went okay. Nicole stayed away from me from the rest of the party which was good for me. I wouldn't attack her. I didn't even plan on bothering her. After everyone left except for Edward, I told Pepper that Carlisle wanted me to get some medication from him incase if I have any pain, which will be unnecessary. She agreed.

"So we're getting there how?" I asked Edward as we were stepping outside in the twilight.

"I didn't bring my Volvo, so I wanted to see how fast you are." He explained. "Last one to the house is a rotten human." Then he had a quick head start, but I caught up with him quickly. He looked at me with an odd expression on his face. "That's really impossible Riley. Normally I'm the fastest in my family." I started laughing a little bit. "What?"

"Technically, you are the fastest in your family. I'm not an actual member of your family. I have Pepper and Tony. Well, Pepper's not an actual blood relative, but she treats me like a sister." I explained as we jumped over the gorge in the woods nearly there at his house remembering the path.

"Oh shoot that's right." He remembered sounding stupid. I started laughing again.

"You're 93 years older than me and you know a lot more than me, but you forget about that I'm not really a member of your family and you think it's weird that I'm fast as you." I said.

"Well yeah it's weird, but don't you think so?" Edward asked.

"In some ways a little bit, but not really." I answered. We continued running through the woods. We jumped over creeks and more gorges. I finally heard their voices after a few seconds of silence.

"They're coming." Alice sang. I looked into her thoughts and saw her jumping up and down in the house Jasper was nearby watching her as he was playing chess with Emmett unaware that Emmett stole his knight trying to cheat. Rosalie was figuring out some designs in her room without Alice's help. Esme was reading a book while Carlisle was watching something on TV. Alice ran to the door to get ready to greet us.

We arrived 15 seconds later at the door. "Hi Alice" I smiled at her. She smiled back and gave me a hug. "Hey Jasper," Jasper looked up and grinned. "Emmett took your knight while you weren't looking. He was trying to cheat because you're excellent at chess." He glanced down at the board and noticed his knight was indeed missing.

"Emmett!" He growled. Emmett's booming laughter shook the house. He tossed the stolen knight in Jasper's face. Emmett came over and punched me in the arm. I punched back at him even harder.

"Ow!" He exclaimed as he rubbed his arm. "You guys could have warned me that she's strong. That really hurt."Alice, Edward and I burst into laughing.

"I guess this is for the time when you didn't tell her that Rosalie was behind her." Alice doubled over with laughter. Emmett stared at me with a hard expression on his face. Carlisle and Esme came in with smiles on their faces.

"It's a good thing that we're going hunting at the same time tonight." Carlisle recalled. I noticed that all of their eyes were coal black. "Well let's head out." He gestured us toward the door. "Just follow us okay?" I nodded.

Edward walked next to me. "Are you excited?" I grinned at him signing a yes. "Now you can play baseball with us sometime whenever there's thunder."

"I'll be looking forward to that." I replied. We then turned our attention to Carlisle who was getting ready to take off. We then took off into the woods. I could smell every creature that lives in the woods; squirrels, deer, rabbits, bears, possums, and mice. Everything was alive to me. I could hear the birds chirping as I ran by them. I heard the rustling of the branches as the squirrels landed on them and jumped off of them. I wish Tony could see this, but he can't find out that I'm a vampire. Edward seemed to hear what I was thinking about.

_You wish you could tell your brother about this if he was here._

_Yeah, but I can't tell him that I can live forever and do a whole bunch of other things._

_Who says you can't?_

_Well I just figured that-_

_You figure. You can tell him, but I would advise you to tell him when the time is right._

_And I'll know that how?_

_You'll know when it happens._

_I hope I know._

_You will. Trust me you will know. _We broke off into groups in the field where we played baseball. Carlisle and Esme went together, Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, and Edward and me.

"Meet us back at the house when you're finished." Carlisle said to the rest of us. We nodded and we went our separate ways.

"This way Riley, we're going Mountain Lion hunting." Edward led. We ran up farther into the mountains. Further than I've gone before into the woods when I was human. We stopped quickly after a few minutes of running. Edward pulled me down into the bushes, but he showed me why. Ahead of us were six of them. _We need to wait for a few seconds. Then we';; attack. Both of us get three._

_You sound really weird when you bargain in a way._

_I'm not bargaining you. I'm just telling you what to do. _

_Ok, but I still say you sound like it._ He glared at me. I gave him my "what?" look. He slightly chuckled in amusement.

_Now! _We launched ourselves from the bushes to the startled lions. We rammed into them with great force. One of them nearly clawed me in the face, but I dodged him. I attacked from behind and sank my teeth into the lion's neck. Warm blood filled my mouth, but didn't satisfy me. I attacked two more of them, but they didn't satisfy me either. They almost did, but not completely.

"Not bad." Edward observed, "For hunting the first time, you were pretty good. Let's go down a little and hunt some deer. I know that will satisfy you for now." We ran down the mountain again into the woods. I stopped abruptly. "What is it?" He asked.

We weren't alone. "I smell hikers." I said. I knew the scent so well. It was Jake and Sam. And I smelled trouble heading their way. Edward recognized the scent too.

"We have to hurry." Edward ordered. We took off again in the direction of Sam and Jake. I heard screams coming from them. There were two bears that were reaching them. _Just push the bears out of their way. Don't let them see you. Whatever you do, don't let them see you._ We reached them in time just before they were about to strike. We rammed into the bears with a deafening thud and landed in tall bushes ten feet away from Sam and Jake. They cried out in horror and surprise as the two bears suddenly vanished. You would too if that happened to you and you didn't know what did it.

The two of us quickly and silently climbed up into towering trees. Edward stood next to me on the branch and we watched the two of them. "What the crap just happened?" Sam's voice was high. She was white and shaking all over.

"Two bears just disappeared from nearly attacking us." Jake stunned. "I think they landed over there." They walked over to the bushes that were right underneath us. They peered into the bushes and jumped back. "Those things really got them. They broke the ribcage and other bones." I looked at my arms. They were covered in the bear's blood. I looked at Edward and he too was a mess. Then we turned our attention back to them. "Well whatever what they were, they saved our lives. I'm just grateful that they were around us." Edward looked at me and gave me a small grin. I gave one back.

_We'll go as soon as they leave._

_Ok._

"I got to tell Riley." Sam suddenly said. Quickly I fished my phone out of my pocket and switched it off. I watched Sam dial my number and wait. "She's not there." Then she waited some more and left a message. "Hey Riley its Sam, I'm just calling to let you know that something freaky happened to me and Jake today on our hike. There were these two bears that almost attacked us. Then out of nowhere, something pushed them out of the way and killed them. Luckily, those things were there and we survived. So call me back, that would be great. Bye!"

"Let's go home now." Jake gestured. _I hope nothing else jumps out at us._ They left us not knowing that we were right above them. We both dropped down from the tree.

"Nice save with the cell phone." Edward smirked. I punched him in the arm. "Ow. Watch how you're handling that ok?"

"Maybe I won't watch how I'm handling it." I replied, "So a couple things I did today: I had a surprise party and felt like tearing Nicole's head off, I went hunting for Mountain Lions, and I save my friends from being killed. Is that normal for vampires?" I listed off on my fingers.

Edward started chuckling in amusement. "Yeah that would be a normal day for us." He put an arm around my shoulder as we walked back to his house. "Let's head back if you're up for it."

"I'm not even thirsty." I replied with a grin. "So how long does it take for my eyes to turn from red to a different color?" I asked him.

"It's going to be around a month sometimes. Depending on how often you hunt. So for you living with a human, it may be quite often. First they'll change to amber and then gold. Feasting on animal blood has a different affect on us more than human blood. You won't have to hunt as often when you hunt animals. If you hunt humans, your eyes stay red unless you hunt animals, and you would hunt more than twice a week." He explained.

"Do you remember James, Laurent, and Victoria?" I nodded and remembered how they feasted on humans. "They might come out in the real world, since you drew us; every one of us from the story is real."

"Great, so not only do I have to worry about my brother, I have to about human feasting vampires attacking the city." I sighed. Edward chuckled again.

"You'll get used to it." He assured. So thus begins a new chapter in my life. Instead of growing up, I stay 15 forever. My birthday isn't until December 24. Yes I would stay like this forever and watch others I know die. It's a consequence I'll have to bear.


	9. Chapter 9 Surprises

**Chapter 9: Surprises**

Just like Edward told me, a month had passed and my eyes turned from red to gold; occasionally to black when I needed to hunt. At first, it was a bit tricky to control when I got back to school when Spring Break ended. I sat with the Cullens at lunch for reasons. Sam and Jake sat with us too, but they felt slightly uncomfortable in their presence, which I can understand why they would. But they all grew fond of each other. Even Rosalie was fond of Sam surprisingly.

Ever since the near-death experience in the woods between Sam and Jake, they have been dating each other. I knew someday that they would eventually. They way Sam looks at Jake made it obvious for me to tell, but I don't think Jake noticed it. Nicole didn't sit with us anymore. Since our fight at the hospital, we haven't talked to each other. Pepper then noticed that we weren't speaking to each other. She thought that when she invited her to my welcome home party, it was a mistake.

I assured to her that it was no mistake. She didn't know until after when Nicole kept glaring at me and stormed out of the house slamming the door in the process. People at school heard about my accident and they wanted to make it up to me, but I told them that I was fine. Already I have enough attention by being Tony's little sister.

Sam, Jake and I were sitting in the cafeteria at lunch today. Alice helped to see what the weather would be today. If it wasn't cloudy, my excuse was that I had some special treatment to receive from Carlisle because normally, humans would still feel shaky after a near-death car accident. Then it would turn to backpacking trips with them. We still never found out why the truck driver drove into us on that night. Unfortunately, he was killed when he rammed his truck into Jake's Mercedes. We may find out or never find out why he did this.

The Cullens were hunting today, so I was on my own. Edward was a bit worried about leaving me on my own for the day. "If anything goes wrong while you're at school," He told me last night, "come straight to my house. Esme will take care of you. I really dislike leaving you by yourself surrounded by other students at school, but we hunt if we have to, and it's that time to hunt again." He hugged me goodbye before he disappeared silently into the night. Before he left, he took one long look at me and smile. "I'm glad I met you Riley."

I grinned back at him. "So am I. I would be dead if it wasn't for you and Carlisle." He then turned to the window and left. The school day went by quickly luckily so I wouldn't have to suffer. I collapsed onto my bed out of boredom when I got home and then headed downstairs. Pepper was home, but she had stuff to do.

About two hours had passed and from the bottom of the hill, I could hear the familiar purr of a Volvo's engine. I grinned to myself knowing very well who it was. I opened the door before Jarvis announced Edward was at the door. I greeted him with a tackle hug and he carried me to the room. "Hi." I grinned.

"Hello Riley." He greeted back. "Did everything go alright for you today while I was gone?" He added in a low voice. I nodded.

"It went by quickly." I replied in the same tone. Pepper walked into the living room with a smile on her face.

"Why hello Edward, how are you doing today?" She greeted him.

"I'm doing fine today Ms. Potts." He answered.

"Oh please. You can call me Pepper." She blushed. _He's too young for me. Too young!_ Her thoughts raced. "You two can do whatever you want to do because I have things I need to get done."

So then we headed up to my room. Edward flopped on my bed and I sat on the chair next to my desk. "Alice had a vision while we were hunting." He said in a grim voice. "Do you remember James, Victoria, and Laurent?" I nodded. "Well she had a vision that they would come here soon and she was correct. Those deaths in the papers were caused by them. They're coming here for some reason. We don't know why and when, but it'll be soon."

"So we're going to protect the city when they get here?" I asked.

"If you don't want people mysteriously dying then maybe we should." He replied still grimacing. "I don't want to put you in a fight, but if it's worth protecting the people here, then maybe it's your choice if you want to." I thought for a few minutes. The silence ticked away slowly minute by minute.

Then I made my choice. "I'll do it. I'll fight them with you when they get here. If we die, it was worth it to save Sam, Jake, and Pepper, and Nicole too even if she's being a brat." He opened his mouth to argue with me, but I stopped him. "This is something that I want to do. Eventually, I'll have to learn to defend myself from vampires like James and Victoria especially." He knew he couldn't argue with that.

On the last day of school, we were let out early. Students were running in every direction going crazy. The seniors that graduated got out a week before we got out for the summer. Rosalie and Emmett stayed around afterwards after they were finished with their umpteenth time of high school. All of the Cullens helped train me incase if James, Victoria, and Laurent came. Not yet at least. The "mysterious" deaths were increasing.

I've been training ever since Edward told me about Alice's vision. As I waited for the afternoon to turn to evening, my cell rang. "Hello?" I asked.

"Riley? It's Alice." I heard Alice's voice. "They're here. In Malibu, they're here."

I froze. Oh crap! "What should I do with Pepper?" I asked. I waited for a few moments for her to think up an answer.

"Tell her that you're going out and you'll be back." She instructed. "Meet us at our house." Then the line went dead. I laced my black and white high-top Chuck Taylor's on and threw a maroon jacket over my black t-shirt. I stuffed my cell phone in my baggy jeans pocket and headed downstairs.

"I'm going to hang out with Alice and Edward for a couple of hours tonight." I informed Pepper.

"I'm perfectly fine with that. Just be back in one piece." She replied. I headed to the door, but stopped and turned around.

"Pepper?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm just saying this but, if anything ever happens to me while I'm gone, I just wanted to let you know thank you for taking care of me. It's been hard when Tony's missing. I know I don't say it much, but thank you." I said to her.

"Well you are very welcome." She nodded. I smiled back at her and then I headed out the door. Edward was waiting in his Volvo outside. I ran quickly to get in.

"They're on the outskirts of town in the woods. We'll have to negotiate with them and ask them to move on. If they don't, we'll have to kill them by ripping them apart and burn their limbs. All of your training is now being put to this." Edward informed. I nodded, too focused to speak. I worried about Sam, Jake, and Pepper, and Tony if he was out there. They have no clue that a fight between us and three others was about to take place.

We drove quickly to his house where we met up with the rest of them. And then we ran to where James, Victoria, and Laurent were at. No one said anything as we ran. Alice gave a few thoughts of encouragement. _We'll get through this Riley. There are three of them and eight of us. We'll make it. _As we reached their location, we looked around. There was no one there. They chose their place well. From above, I heard movement in the trees. Then three figures dropped down from tall trees. Victoria crouched cat-like was smiling in one of those evil ways. James glared at us, and Laurent looked at us with peace. Even though he never fought with us, we couldn't trust him. He nearly killed Bella once if Jacob hadn't been there.

Their red eyes glowed at us while our gold eyes bore into theirs. "Please," Laurent began, "we want to make peace."

"If you do, then the killing of humans must stop immediately." Carlisle spoke with confidence showing no signs of emotion. Then there were bursts of hisses and outrages from Victoria and James.

"That is our only way of feeding." Victoria snarled. "We wouldn't want to waste every drop of human blood."

"There is the option of hunting on animals." I answered to them also showing no fear to the older vampires. I knew how dangerous they were and how James almost killed Bella and how Victoria wanted revenge on her.

"The small one is very clever." James said quietly to Victoria. "But we will not change our ways. Our ways of hunting is fun. Hearing the humans scream in terror as we end their life is music to our ears." He looked at me. I growled at him. "We will hunt down this entire city that is swarming with hundreds of humans. And nothing will stop us." Then we made our move.

In an instant there was fighting and growls from all of us as we battled with each other. I battled James with Emmett and Jasper as Victoria was battling with Alice and Edward. Leaving Laurent with Carlisle, Esme, and Rosalie. I felt James sink his teeth in my right shoulder down to where it met with the arm. I yelled in pain, but continued fighting. I never knew that I could be so vicious and I attacked James from behind and twisted his neck stunning him. Jasper and Emmett took care of the rest of him and I quickly helped with the others.

I ignored the fact that it was other vampires not so different from us that we were burning. They wanted to kill all the humans and everyone I cared about. So they deserved it. We put the fire out as soon as we were done burning them. My shoulder was stinging painfully, but I gritted my teeth and ignored it. I learned what pain felt like from many things and learned to deal with it. The others had some injuries too similar to mine.

Jasper had been bitten before by vampires back when he was first training them when they were newborns. He told me what to do and in a few minutes, it stopped stinging. We headed back to the Cullens house and washed up like nothing had ever happened before.

Edward drove me home after a few hours of waiting at his house. It was 11:50 when I got home. So for six hours, I fought for those who I cared about. I kept my injury hidden from Pepper knowing that she would flip on me if she found out.

A few days later after we fought James, Victoria, and Laurent, Edward and I were hanging around in the living room at my house. The June weather outside was suitable for us. No sun. The injury on my shoulder had healed up and it was now a scar. "Ooh my first battle scar." I noticed. Edward chuckled.

"Jasper has plenty of those. He could tell you exactly how he got them sometime if you want to hear." He said.

The phone rang and Peppers answered it. She stood there shocked. We both went up to her to make sure she was alright. "Alright. That's really good news. I'll tell Riley." She said.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"She took a deep breath. "They found Tony. _And he's alive._"


	10. Chapter 10 Welcome Home

**Chapter 10: Welcome Home**

"They…what?" I asked still shocked. Edward was standing right next to me and he couldn't even believe it.

"Rhodey and his search party found Tony. He's injured, but alive." Pepper explained. Tears of happiness were falling down her face. Too stunned to speak, I hugged her. "He's coming home in two days."

"Riley this is wonderful news." Edward twirl-hugged me.

"We need to tell the others." I grinned. He put me down and I called Sam.

"THEY WHAT!" She yelled in the receiver.

"They found him! He's coming home in two days! You and Jake can come visit him." I giddily replied.

"Oh we definitely will. I'm going to go call him." She squealed back. Then Edward called Alice and she had the same reaction too. This day is too great.

Two days passed by very quickly. I was very anxious to see my brother again. For three months he had been gone. I felt a bit nervous for some odd reason. I haven't felt nervous since before my transformation. Maybe it was the thought that he would notice that I'm completely different.

On the morning of his return, I wore a black shirt, baggy jeans, and my Chucks. I kept my hair down and straightened it. I examined myself in the mirror and saw me with liquid topaz eyes. Sometime this week I'll go hunting. The weather outside was gray and wonderful, so I got lucky today.

I headed downstairs to the living room and waited for Pepper. We would be picking him up at 11:00 and it was already 10:00. I heard her coming from her room across the house. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting. Did you grab something to eat?" She apologized.

"Yeah I had some yogurt this morning." I fibbed. I don't need to eat anymore. We can eat, but we really don't have to. Same goes with breathing only it occurs naturally.

"Well let's get going then." She said. We headed out to the car where Happy was waiting. He held open the door for us and we climbed in and set off to the air force base where Tony and Rhodey were at. The drive took 45 minutes to get there, so I kept myself occupied by viewing the scenery.

From up above high in the sky, I heard the plane's engines. It was still a few miles away, but Pepper couldn't hear it. Then increasingly it got louder and louder as it drew closer. An ambulance was waiting by in case if Tony passed out or he needed something like a wheelchair. I found the plane descending beneath the clouds and the wheels met the runway.

The craft doors opened with a loud hiss and my brother sat in a wheelchair with a sling around his arm. He was a bit banged up, but he looked very stylish in his suit. Rhodey stood next to him and helped him out of the chair. "Watch your step here." I heard him say.

"What are they doing here?" Tony noticed the ambulance and a gurney. "Get rid of them." Rhodey waved away the medics and they understood. He approached us and smiled. "Your eyes are red. Tears for your long lost boss?" He said to Pepper. Her eyes were indeed red.

"I hate job hunting." She smiled through her tears that she quickly wiped away. Then Tony turned to me.

He held out his good arm in a hug and I hugged him very gently back. "You and Pepper were the only thoughts keeping me alive." He kissed my head.

"I missed you so much. You wouldn't believe how hard it was." I replied back.

"You look very beautiful since the last time I saw you." He noted. I smiled at him. Then we headed to the car. "Long time no seen Happy."

"It's good to see you sir." Happy held the door open. We climbed in.

"Drive us to the hospital Happy." Pepper instructed.

"No wait. There's something I need to do. First I want a cheeseburger. I've been in captivity for three months and I want a cheeseburger." Tony changed. Pepper gave him a look.

"For the love of-"She began.

"Now wait, then I want you to call up a press. Cheeseburger first, then the press." Tony added. Pepper rolled her eyes, but did what she was told. We drove to a fast food restaurant that was close by and sold cheeseburgers. "So what did you do while I was gone?"

"Well, I went to school like always, and over Spring Break, you won't believe this though." I explained to him.

"Yeah I will believe this. Keep going I want to hear what happened." He begged me to go on.

"I got in a car accident. I was going to the movies with Sam and Jake and while we were at a stoplight, a semi truck crashed into us. The driver of the semi was killed in the crash, so we will never find out why he did it. I was sent to the hospital and I was losing a lot of blood. Sam and Jake made it out with a few cuts and bruises. Lucky them. I had to spend the entire break in the hospital and it sucked." I told my story. Tony gaped at me in shock.

"You were in a car crash? And the semi driver was killed? And you were in the hospital for Break?" He asked in shock. I nodded. "Who was the doctor that took care of you?"

"His name is Doctor Carlisle Cullen. He took care of me while I was in the hospital. He has two daughters and three sons. Edward, Jasper, and Alice are a year older than me. And Rosalie and Emmett are two years older than me. They're all foster children and when he and his wife Esme were taking care of them, they decided to adopt them. So none of them are really blood relatives." I explained Carlisle to him.

"Well I must meet this Dr. Cullen and thank him for taking care of you." Tony smiled. While we were talking, we didn't notice that we arrived to our destination where the press was at. The crowds of press agents were applauding for his return. Obadiah was waiting with them and he greeted us by opening the car door for us.

"Hello Tony. It's so good to see you alive. Hey is that a cheeseburger?" He greeted. Tony stepped out of the car and waved to the press with his good arm.

"This is my cheeseburger. I was held in captivity for three months and I haven't had American food in three months." Tony said quietly for him and Obie to hear, but I could hear them talking. I stepped out of the car with Pepper and we headed inside of the factory of Stark Industries. The press room was an open room with glass windows from the ceiling to the floor.

I heard the thoughts of everyone in the room and they were all thinking similar things. _Tony Stark's back! What creative weapon will he come up with next? _Pepper and I stood in a corner and a man walked up to us.

"Ms. Potts?" The man asked. She turned her attention to him.

"Yes?" She answered.

"May I speak to you for a moment?"

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to being right now."

"I'm not a reporter. I'm Agent Phil Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." Coulson explained and handed her a card.

"That's quite a mouthful." I replied.

"I know." Coulson said. "We're working on it."

"You know, we've already been approached by the DOD, the FBI, and the CIA-"Pepper began.

"We're a subdivision. We're the more specific focus. We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circum stances of his escape." He continued explaining.

"I'll put something in the book. Shall I?" She plied.

"Thank you." He said. Then we turned our attention to Stane.

"Uh," He began and looked down at Tony who was seated in front of the podium on the floor.

"Hey would it be alright if everyone sat down so that you can see me and I can see you and it would be a little less formal." Tony asked pulling out a cheeseburger.Everyone hesitated for a moment, but they sat down. Stane sat down next to him as he took a bite of his burger.

_What's going on?_

_Why are we sitting down?_ Thoughts raced through the heads of the press agents.

"What's up with him?" Rhodey asked sitting down next to us.

"Don't ask me. I have no clue." Pepper replied.

"Good to see you." Tony said lowly to Stane. He patted him on the shoulder.

"Good to see you too." He replied.

"I never got to say good bye to Dad." Tony said to him. Then he turned to the press. "I never got to say good bye to my father." He sat his burner aside and took deep breath thinking about what to say. "If there were questions I could ask him, I would ask him about how he would feel about what this company did, if he was conflicted if he ever had doubts, or maybe he was the man everyone would remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the weapons I made to defend and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system with zero accountability." Reporters were raising their hands to ask questions.

"Mr. Stark?" One asked.

"Hey Ben."

"So what happened over there?"

"I had my eyes open. I came to realize that I had more to offer to this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why immediately I'm shutting down the weapons manufacture of Stark Industries." He explained standing up at the podium. In an instant, reporters stood up firing questions about his decision. "Until at such a time I can decide the future of this company."

"What we should take from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever!" Stane tried calming down the press. Tony left the podium. I looked at Pepper. Her mouth was slightly open in surprise about what she just witnessed. I walked through the crowd to help my brother get back here. Reports were flashing cameras at me and asking me questions, but I ignored them. I found his hand and led him back to Pepper.

"We should go." I quietly said to him. He nodded.

"There's something that I want to take a look at first, but you can head home if you want to. I'll meet you there." Tony looked down at me. We headed out to the car and climbed in. It was a quiet ride on the way home. Then I noticed something different. I heard a low humming, not coming from the car, but from somewhere. It was impossible for humans to hear it, but could. Then Tony shifted in his seat uncomfortably, I heard his heart race a little._ I hope this mini-arc reactor keeps the shrapnel out of my heart._ Vaguely, just barely, I saw a blue light coming from his chest. So that must be what he thinking about. The arc reactor powering the factory gives off a blue color.

We arrived home and Pepper and I climbed out. "I'll be back later." He called. "I promise." He added quietly to me. I gave a small smile and he smiled back. The door closed and I could hear him talk to Happy. "Back to the factory, please Happy."

"So what do you feel like doing while waiting for him?" I asked Pepper for a change. "And I can tell that you like the "new" him." Pepper blushed and opened her mouth to say something. "Oh come on. You know it's true."

"Well who doesn't?" She asked. "He's learned something from being over there missing for three months and he's decided to shut down the weapon manufacturing. Now tell me who wouldn't be happy about that?" She laughed. Then we headed inside. We waited for a couple of hours for him and he and Happy came home before Pepper knew it. I heard them coming from the bottom of the hill.

"Welcome home sir." Jarvis greeted as Tony walked in.

"Ah it's so good to hear your voice again Jarvis. I missed you guys a whole bunch." Tony wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "What have you been up to kiddo?"

"Nothing much. Painting things. Talking to friends every now and then." _Performing at concerts._ Oh I almost forgot. I'm inviting someone over that you haven't met yet. He's a friend of mine." I said. I heard the Volvo pull up and knew he was here.

"And who might this be?" Tony asked as I walked to the door after Jarvis announced Edward was here.

"His name is Edward. And no he's not my boyfriend." I explained looking back at him.

"Now why would I think that?" He asked.

"I just have one of those feelings." I replied as I opened the door. Edward stood there wearing a nice shirt and a small smile on his face. His eyes were a liquid topaz like mine. Later tonight, we're going hunting.

"Hello Riley." He greeted. I stood aside for him to come in.

"Hi Edward. There's someone that I want you to meet." I greeted back. I led him to the living room where Tony stood up and shook his hand.

"Mr. Stark," Edward began keeping good eye contact, "I wanted to formally introduce myself. I'm Edward Cullen."

"Hi Edward." Tony said. "You can call me Tony instead of Mr. Stark. So you're a friend of Riley's."

"Yes. Since the middle of the school year. We bumped into each other one day and started talking to each other."

"And what grade will you be in?"

"I will be a senior in the fall along with my sister Alice and brother Jasper. Emmett and Rosalie graduated last month."

"Just a year older than Riley."

"Yep just a year older than me." I replied. When Tony turned, I gave Edward a quick wink at the joke.

"Hey Riley can I talk to you for a second in the kitchen?" Tony asked. I didn't hesitate on wondering why. I knew where this was going. When we got to the kitchen Tony closed the door, but that wouldn't be help at all. "This guy's a year older than you."

"Yeah. And?"

"I don't mind you having guy friends, but when you bring a guy who looks like Robert Pattinson that's when I get a bit worried about you. I'm nervous that you might make wrong choices when it comes to relationships."

"We're just friends. And it's going to stay like that. I pinkie-swear-cross-my-heart promise." I held my pinkie up. He locked it with his pinkie.

"Alright, but if you end up getting pregnant by him, I'll kick you in the stomach and it's lockdown on you. Ok?" He looked at me with protective older brother eyes. I gave him a 'I promise' look.


	11. Chapter 11 The Project

**Chapter 11: The Project**

Edward and I walked up to my room, but we stood at the top of the staircase and listened to their conversation. "Pepper can I talk to you?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Sure." She replied.

"I'm not so sure with the idea of Riley hanging out with a guy who's older than he looks." He said.

"Tony you're just getting older brother protection feeling. Edward's a nice boy. He saved Riley twice as a matter of fact." Pepper explained.

"Really?"

"Yes. One night she was hanging out with a guy who is the same age as her at the movies and they went walking, but he dragged her to an alley and a couple of his friends jumped her. Edward came in quickly and saved her. There was another time where she was in that wreck she told you about earlier. She was trapped in the car and the metal was cutting her very badly. He somehow pulled the door off of the car and pulled her out of the wreck. She almost died if he hadn't been there. He's a great kid. You'll like him once you start hanging around him." She warmly said. "He's very proper too."

"I believe you, but I'm going to ask Riley about this whole thing later." He sighed. "I'm going to go to bed. I'd never realize how tired you can be by coming back home."

"Well a lot has happened within the past couple of hours." She added. He grinned and he headed up the stairs. Edward and I ran to my room without him noticing. We flopped on my bed grinning at each other. We waited for a few minutes for him to walk by making sure that he wasn't eavesdropping on us. We heard his footsteps at my door and heard him pause for a moment. Then he continued walking to his room. I looked at the clock; 7:30 p.m.

"I'll be back at 11:00 by your window so we can go hunting. The others are going too. It's been awhile since we all went together." He said quietly. He kissed my head in a way of saying goodbye to me.

"See you soon." I replied. He smiled and walked downstairs to the door. I heard him say goodbye to Pepper and heard the front door close. I ran to the deck and saw the Volvo headlights turn on and pull away from the house. I walked around my room trying to find something to do. I haven't drawn something in awhile, so I grabbed my book and thought what to draw. I thought long and hard for a long time. I didn't even notice the three and a half hours go by. I heard a knock on the deck door and snapped out of it. I glanced at the clock. Time to go hunting.

I headed to the deck and closed the doors behind me. Edward, Alice, and Jasper were waiting for me. "Did you like your surprise earlier this week?" Alice asked.

"Yes I did. Very much. He's conked out too on his bed." I grinned.

"Let's get going before they wake up. We don't have a whole bunch of time if you know what I mean." Edward gestured. We jumped down from the deck very far to the ground. The wind blew my hair a little as I dropped like a boulder. My feet slammed into the ground, but I didn't fall. We then took off to the woods that were located on the outskirts of town. My eyes were used to the dark, so everything looked normal to me.

We cut across the town by running on the beach which was near the woods. I looked at the sky as I ran. It was beautiful with the sound of the waves hitting the sand. The sky was full of billions of twinkling stars. I could smell salt, fish, and any other things that you could smell on the beach. I heard sounds of stereos playing from cars as they drove past us on the streets. Basses booming loud for people who turned it all the way up. Some people were talking on phones, others were talking to people in their cars, or as for Edward and I, and some were talking to themselves in their heads.

We stayed close to the water so no one could see a blur of color run by them. In a few minutes, we reached the woods where Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie were waiting for us. We then headed off into pairs of two and went hunting. Edward and I went up near the hills again like last time. We found deer and went a bit further north of California in an hour and found bears. That quickly quenched our thirst, so we headed back down south to Malibu.

Edward and I ran back to my house after we sat down at his house for an hour to rest. I bade him good night once we reached my room. Luckily, Jarvis doesn't record you if you're in your bedroom or the bathroom unless you have tricks up your sleeves like how I do when I caught Tony and Christine. After Edward left, I scaled up the side of the house and sat on the roof on my back and waited for the sun to rise.

You'd be surprised with a view like this and it takes your breath away. After it rose, I jumped down from the roof to the ground and climbed back up the side of the house to my room. People would get suspicious if they found a huge hole on the deck. I put my pajamas on as a prop, grabbed my journal and sat down on my bed and began writing. It's been awhile since I last wrote in my journal, so I decided why not? Memories are precious things that should be written down to be remembered.

_Tony came home yesterday. It's hard to describe how I feel about it. Part of me wants to be happy, but the other half wants me to be sad. Happy that he's here with us again alive and well. Sad because I want to tell him that I'm not human anymore. I've had the urges to scream aloud that I'm a vampire. It's like wanting to tell Jake that I'm a famous guitar player, but I can't because he'll treat me different. Only with being a vampire, people would hunt you down and capture you. They would hold you in a prison kept away from society losing what means to be you. They would keep you there until you lose control of who you are and you forget who you are by killing those who locked you up. Then you would set out to kill others. Just by looking at Edward, I can tell that he felt remorse after he killed people in the past. He didn't mean to, but it happens._

I closed my book and hid it where only I could find it. Then I thought of what to draw in my drawing book. The night sky. I sketched out the sky and the stars, and then I grabbed pastels and rubbed the colors in. There was a mixture of dark purples mixing with light purples and dark blues. I smiled at the thought of it once I finished. I glanced at the clock which read 8 a.m. Sunlight came through my windows and found my skin.

Little prisms formed and bounced off of my skin and onto the walls decorating them with light like crystal chandeliers. Quickly, I ran downstairs to see if anyone was up. No one was up at all. I scribbled a note for both Pepper and Tony and ran upstairs to grab some clean clothes and called Edward. If the sun ever broke through the clouds, Carlisle told me to stay with them until it was safe to be outside.

My note read: Went to hang out with Edward and Alice. I have my cell if you want to call me. You know the number. It's still the same as always. Be back later. – Riley.

While I was at the Cullens' house, Tony called me. "Hey Riley." He spoke in the phone.

"Hi." I replied.

"There's something I'm working on and I'm wondering if you want to help me with it." He requested.

"What is it?"

"I'll explain it to you when you get back. It's kind of hard to explain and I'm not sure on who to trust now." This was something big. I could feel it.

"I'm up for it."

"Alright. I'll be in the shop when you get back."

"Bye."

"See you kiddo."

So Tony was wondering if I was up to help him build something. Heck yeah I'm up for it. Better than doing nothing all day.

The sun swept behind the clouds for the rest of the day so I could go back home. "Thanks for the ride." I called to Edward.

"Just call us if it happens again." He replied with a smile. Then I headed inside downstairs to the shop where Tony was. I pressed in the password to unlock the door and I came in. Tony looked up from the hologram computer and grinned.

"Come here. I have something to show you." He led me to the computer and pulled up a file. The file contained a suit with rockets and flamethrowers and any other weapons on there. "This is how I escaped the caves." He explained. "A man named Yinsen helped me build it. He saved my life also by building an electromagnet keeping shrapnel from entering my heart or it will kill me. I had Pepper help me put in a new one on me. It was going out and it needed replacing. The suit here is powered by it. I'm thinking about making a better version of the suit." He looked at me. "Are you in?"

I thought for a moment. "Oh yeah I'm in."

"Ok. First we need to remove the parts to make it lighter to fly around in." He thought for a moment. I took the pen and removed the bulky rockets and weapons so it looked more light-weight and easier to travel in. "Hm. That's a good start." He took the pen back and lifted the helmet up and examined it.

"I think you need a new design of it. A flap like that won't do you any good at all." I observed. So we found what needed to be replaced and what needed to be added. Then we found materials to create the jet-powered boots. We both began working on building the base and added the wires into it. After we wired them in there, I pressed a button on there and it opened the back of the boots up to be put on.

"Nice. Very nice." He observed my work. "And I thought you were just good at painting."

"You'd be surprised at other things too." I said.

"Just don't tell Pepper about this ok?"

"Brother-sister promise." I replied giving my word.

A few days later, we tested the boots out. We had two robots with us. One on camera duty and the other on fire extinguisher duty. "Alright. Turning on to ten percent thrust. Activate hand controls. And in 3…2…1…" Tony began. He pressed the buttons and the jet boots flared fire out of them propelling my brother backwards into the ceiling and hitting it with a loud smack and landed with a crash.

I rushed over to him. "Are you ok?" I helped him up.

"Yeah I'm fine." He panted. "We just need a new way to control flying it."

"How about using repulsors to help steady youself when flying. It would divide the total thrust into four equal parts so not all of it is taking it on the boots." I suggested.

He snapped his fingers. "Riley you are a brilliant little sister."

Days later, we came up with pulsars that we designed on the computer. Then Tony used the interactive hologram computer and pieced it together and fit his hand on to it. That night, we made an actual copy of one. I helped him screw it on to place. Pepper came downstairs into the workshop with a package for him.

_Oh crap._ Tony thought. I was thinking the same thing. As she walked in, she looked puzzled.

"Obadiah's upstairs. I thought you said you weren't going to build anymore weapons." She said.

"We'll be right up. It's not. It's a flight simulator. It's completely harmless." He explained. He lifted it off of the stand and pressed a button. It charged up with a hum and unleashed a blast of power that threw him backwards and landed with a crash. Pepper cringed as he was thrown of his feet.

"I didn't expect that." He said. Pepper went upstairs where Stane was at. I helped Tony up and put our stuff away from prying eyes. When we got upstairs, we found Stane playing the piano. "How did it go?" Stane looked at him, and then looked away again. Pepper was sitting on the couch working on her laptop.

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York means that it went bad." Stane said not looking up. Tony sat down on the couch next to Pepper and opened the box of pizza.

"Uh huh. Sure doesn't." Tony said not buying it. He pulled out a slice and started munching on it. _Oh god! New York has the best pizza ever!_ I slightly smirked at his thought.

"It would have gone a lot better if you were there."

"Nu uh. I'm laying low. That's what you told me to do and that's what I'm doing. And you're taking over for me"

"Hey it's the press. Besides, this was a Board of Directors Meeting."

"This was- this was a Board of Directors Meeting?" Tony gaped at him.

"The board wants to file a junction against you." Stane sat down next to him.

"A what?" Tony asked.

"They want to lock you out."

"Why? Just because the stocks dropped forty points? We knew it was going to happen."

"Fifty-six and a half." Pepper answered looking at him by rolling her eyes.

"It doesn't matter. We own controlling interest in the company." Tony's temper was rising.

"Tony, the board has rights too. They're making the case. They think that the company being under new leadership is a good decision." Stane explained to him.

"I'm being responsible. That's a new direction for me. I mean for the company. I mean me on the company's behalf on being responsible." He said. I raised my eyebrows in surprise as he corrected himself in a way of realizing what he admitted. He paused for a moment and Pepper looked up at him. "All right screw it." He said getting up and taking the pizza box with him.

"Tony-"Stane began to protest.

"Riley and I'll be in the shop." He said as we both headed towards the shop stairs.

"Hey wait a minute." Stane stopped us. "Tony listen I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you got to listen to something. Something to give them a pitch at. Let me have them analyze that." He pointed at the electromagnet. "You know, let them draw some specs."

"Nope. This one stays with me. That's final." Tony interrupted. "That's it Obie."

"Well alright then. This stays with me." He said pulling the box out of Tony's hands. "Go on here have another piece." He held it open.

"Thank you." He replied as in an I-don't-mean-it-thank-you. Then we began heading back to the shop.

"Riley do you want a slice?" Stane asked holding the box open still.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry." I assured him. I followed my brother downstairs.

"Mind if I come down to see what you're doing?" He asked.

"Goodnight Obie." Tony called down from the steps not looking back.

"Jeez he's like his father." I heard him mutter under his breath.

"Well that certainly took a long time to end." I commented him.

"Yeah. I'm just hoping that he doesn't find out about this secret project." He replied quietly. The rest of the night, Tony and I kept working on the suit. It was almost 1 in the morning by the time we quit. "Man, aren't you tired?" He asked with a yawn.

"Just a little." I fibbed. He put an arm around me and we walked upstairs to my room where we departed at and he headed to his room. Once I heard his door close, I went to the deck and climbed up the house away from the windows onto the roof and looked at the moon.


	12. Chapter 12 Touch Ups

**Chapter 12: Touch Ups**

"Day eleven. Test thirty-seven, configuration two-point-o. Dummy you're put on fire safety. If you douse me again and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to City College." He pointed at the robot a few days later testing the jets for the thirty-seventh time. I stood by off of the camera to watch. If anything happened to him like if he went unconscious, I would immediately turn off the camera and run to help him as quickly as I could. For the past couple of tests, our Dummy had been dousing him in CO2 even though he wasn't on fire. I sat there chuckling whenever he was sprayed with the CO2.

"All right. Starting off nice and easy. Seriously, I'm going to start off at one percent thrust." He said getting ready. He relaxed his body by taking deep breaths. "In 3…2…1." He pressed the ignition buttons and rose up slowly in the air. He took my advice about dividing the thrust into four parts. Two jets on the feet and two where the repulsors are at. He hovered for a few seconds then cut off the jets and dropped back down. He would have almost toppled backwards if I hadn't steadied him. "Thanks." He said. I nodded in a welcome way. The Dummy kept following his every move. "All right setting it up to two percent. And please don't follow me around. I feel like I'm going to spontaneously burst into flame." He relaxed again and counted down.

He fired up the jets again and he flew higher, but controlled his speed. He moved around a bit and flew towards the cars. "Oh not the car. Not the car." He panicked as he was directly above the blue car painted with white stripes on the hood. He moved his hand in another direction and papers flew up from his desk becoming free from paperclips. "Ok this is where I don't want to be." He flew back and panicked again in a shaky nervous laugh. "Yikes!" Then it became easier for him to control. In a few minutes, he landed with ease. He looked directly at the camera. "Yeah. I can fly." Then we switched the camera off and took a break for the day.

"I still can't believe we did that. That was really cool." I exclaimed with a grin. Tony was grinning at me while we were sitting at the table in the kitchen while we ate our lunch. Pepper was out and about getting ready for tonight's party for the 3rd annual Benefit for the Firefighters Fund. Tony was lying low, so he was staying home tonight. I was coming so I would be getting ready later. Knowing him, he would be down in the shops not knowing that I would be wearing a dress for the first time since I was like five or six years old.

Pepper said that I could invite someone to come along with me. And I just know who to invite. "I'm going to go make a call to someone." I said getting up from the table.

"Is it that Edward boy you hang out with?" He asked immediately going on defense mode.

"Yeah. I haven't talked to him in awhile." I replied which was true. The last time I was in touch with the Cullens was about two weeks ago.

"Well go have fun calling him. I won't get in your way." He motioned in a funny way. I stared at him watching him and started laughing at the awkward gesture he made with his hand.

When he wasn't looking, I ran very quickly up to my room. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed his number. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" Edward asked.

"Hey Edward. It's Riley."

"Hello Riley. How have you been?"

"I've been fine. What about you and the others?"

"Same old."

"For about the past hundred year." I noted. He chuckled through the receiver. I joined him.

"So what brings you to call me?"

"I was wondering if you would like to come with me to the Annual Benefit for Firefighters Fund tonight. It's more like a formal party if you were wondering. Pepper said I could bring someone if I wanted to so I thought about you."

"I would very much like to go with you tonight. I accept your invitation."

"We're going as friends right?"

"Unless if you don't want to. I'm fine with however you put it."

"Just as friends."

"I had a feeling you would choose that." I chuckled at his comment. "I'll go hunting for my tuxedo today. That will give me something to do."

"You can come over at six. Pepper's leaving early so she'll check us in ahead of time."

"I'll bring my Volvo. See you at six."

"See you later." I hung up my phone as soon as the line disconnected. So I had a "date" tonight. Only we're going as friends. I stared at myself in the mirror. I might make everyone die of shock tonight.

I got ready around four, knowing me that I don't dress up much would take me a while. I was wearing a simple black spaghetti strapped dress that stopped a little above my knees. My wavy brown hair had a braid in it and had a rhinestone headband holding my hair back. I wore black strappy sandals that buckled at my ankles. I looked at myself in the mirror and gapped at what I saw.

I didn't see the tomboy vampire Riley Stark. I saw the young lady vampire Riley Stark. Man was I going to surprise both Edward and Pepper tonight. I wouldn't have a problem with my thirst tonight for I went hunting by myself two nights ago.

6:00. came quickly. I heard the purr of the Volvo's engine pull in front of our house. Tony went down to the shop around three so I ran down to the door with my inhuman speed and opened the door. Edward was waiting for me there in his spiffy tux. He froze when he first looked at me. "What?" I asked.

"You look very beautiful." He commented still stunned. I smiled back at him.

"Um. Thank you. You look smashing in your tuxedo." I replied.

"I have something for you." He said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. He opened it revealing a locket with an R on the front. I gasped when my eyes landed on it.

"What-how-"I stammered. "It's beautiful." He gently pulled it out of the box and walked behind me to put it on. I held my hair up for him so he didn't have to do all of the work. "I love it." I grinned turning around to face him. He grinned back. He held out his arm and I took it.

"Shall we go surprise Pepper?" He asked.

"We shall indeed." I replied. We walked to the door and closed it behind us. Edward held the door open to the Volvo for me and I climbed in. He walked quickly to the other side and climbed in. I guided him to where the banquet was at. While we were driving there, I heard a familiar roar of jet-like rockets flying in the sky. Edward seemed to notice too.

"What is that noise?" He asked curiously.

"Tony and I are working on a project and I guess he took it test flying tonight." I explained. Then I heard car horns way ahead of us honk and veer out of the way for nearly crashing into a metal man. "Yep that would be him. You can't tell anyone about this though. Our secret." I added.

"I promise not to tell for as long as I live." He promised. We pulled up to our destination.

"Oh crap I forgot that photographers and the press would be here." I groaned noticing a crowd of people.

"You'll be fine." He coaxed. We got out of the Volvo and he handed his keys to the man who parks the cars. We walked arm in arm up the stairs into the building. As we passed the press, they took pictures of us and fired questions at me. I ignored them as I passed.

"Riley Stark! What does it feel like to have a brother that is not making weapons anymore?" One fired at me.

"Are you going to be deciding the future of Stark Industries?"

"What is the name of your handsome date you are with tonight?" The questions got more bizarre as we passed them. I was glad we reached inside quickly. I saw Pepper and she saw us.

"Oh my god! You look incredible!" She squealed. She had her hair down and it flowed in wavy curls. She wore a blue silk dress that had no back. She looked incredible herself!

"_You_ look amazing Pepper. Ah if only Tony were here. Then he could see how amazing you look." I complimented her. She flushed at the cheeks and grinned shyly.

"Yes. If only he was here." She agreed. "Why Edward. You look handsome tonight. I see you bought Riley a necklace." She noticed.

"Why thank you Pepper. You look fabulous yourself." Edward replied. She said goodbye to us for now, she went to go catch up on some people she hadn't seen in a long time. "May I have this dance?" He held out his hand.

"Yes you may." I took it. He led me to the middle of the floor and we began dancing. "To warn you, I'm a terrible dancer." He chuckled at that.

"That's what Bella says, but she turns out to dance just fine." He noted. He spun me around gently so I wouldn't fall in case if I did. My dress spun around with me at the hem. People around us were dancing, but they stopped to watch us with interest. I don't blame them. You have the sister of a famous businessman dancing with a handsome boy that's a "year" older than her.

_People are watching us. Did you notice that?_

_Yes I did. It's because you look so beautiful tonight. You're quite the dancer Riley. Are you sure you haven't danced before like this?_

_I'm positive that I haven't. _I noticed that the adults were smiling at us as we twirled around in a circle on the floor. From outside, I hear cheers and whistles. I heard people calling someone's name. Tony made a surprise entrance. I heard him come in and he stopped to watch what the people were staring at. _Look who decided to come after all._ Edward looked around and saw. He laughed quietly.

Tony's reaction almost made me laugh aloud and would cost me to have people looking at me with strange looks. _Oh my god! Is that-? No wait. It is! It's Riley!_ Edward and I finished dancing and we walked over to some seats at a counter. I heard Tony approach us, but I acted like I didn't hear him walk over to us.

"Who are you and what have you done to my little sister?" Tony said behind me. I twisted around in my seat and grinned at him.

"Surprised?" I asked.

"Very. You look amazing Riley. Your necklace touches it up very nicely. Did Edward buy it for you?"

"Yes he did. If you think that I surprised you, go find Pepper." I replied to him. He grinned at the two of us and left to find Pepper. We watched with interest as he found her. "You can tell they like each other." I watched them starting to dance to the slow tune.

"Yes. It's very easy." He agreed. We listened in on to their conversation.

"Do you want to go get some air?" Tony asked her.

"Yes. Let's go get some air." She replied. They left the floor and headed outside. "That was really strange in there."

"How so?" He asked.

"Well you're you. Everyone knows how you are with girls. I'm just your assistant whom nobody pays attention to. And I'm wearing this ridiculous dress with no back while I'm dancing with you." She rushed through but began to slow down. There was a moment of silence. We wait patiently, but were anxious. "I would like a drink."

"Sure." Tony replied quietly.

"I would like a Vodka Martini. Very dry extra olives. Like at least three of them." She said. We heard him come down from the balcony to get Pepper's drink. He tipped the service by putting a couple of dollars in a wine glass.

"Two Vodka Martinis. One extra dry, extra olives." Tony ordered the barman. He nodded and left to prepare his drinks. One of the last couple of people I wanted to see on the face of the planet showed up. That reporter Christine Everhart. She spotted my brother and walked up to him.

"Tony Stark. You seem to have a lot of gut to be here. What's going through your mind?" She asked.

"Panic. Lots of panic." He replied in a clammy tone.

"You know, I almost bought it. Hook, line, and sinker." She pulled out what looked to be some photos. "And you said your company wasn't going to make weapons anymore?"

"Yeah."

"Then what do you call this?" She demanded and handed him the photos.

"When were these taken?" He asked in a low voice.

"Yesterday. In a town called Gulmira. Ever heard of it?" She explained to him not taking her eyes off of him.

"Never heard of it. I never approved of my company's shipping."

"Well someone apparently did."

"Well I'm not part of my company." Tony shot back at her. He left the seat at the counter and headed outside.

"Come on." I nudged Edward quietly. He followed me and we followed Tony outside. Tony was talking to Stane outside with Christine waiting patiently. We stood next to her and also waited with her.

"Have you seen these?" Tony asked Stane in a low voice. Stane tried to ignore him. "Someone had these shipped to Gulmira. I didn't approve of any shipping."

Stane put an arm around him. "Who do you think wanted to lock you out? I filed the junction against you. It was the only way to protect you." He looked at the press and smiled. "Picture time." They snapped photos of him and my stunned brother. Stane soon left him leaving my brother in anger. I put an arm around my brother's arm.

"I'm so sorry." I said. He looked down at me. His face was still full of numbness.

"Get Pepper. We're going home." He ordered. We didn't hesitate a second. Edward and I headed back inside and found Pepper. We told her that we were leaving and she bade goodbye to her fellow co-workers. Edward and I drove home back in the Volvo in silence.

"I always had a feeling that I shouldn't trust him. And now I know why I shouldn't." I answered in rage. I felt a growl build up inside me. Edward had the same reaction too.

"You have a very good reason why not to trust him. In the past, present, and future. No matter what." He answered. He had a controlled look of pain on his face trying not to go back and attack Stane. We reached the house in a few minutes. Edward walked me up to the door and I bade him goodnight.

"Thank you for the locket. And thank you for coming with me so I wouldn't have to suffer." I thanked him.

"You are very welcome. And thank you for inviting me. I would have died from boredom if you hadn't invited me." Edward thanked back. "Even though Stane ruined it silently without people knowing, it was still fun."

"Yeah." I agreed. He hugged me goodbye and I watched him leave the house. I turned around and walked inside.

"Welcome home Ms. Stark. Did everything go alright at the Benefit?" Jarvis greeted me.

"I found out something very shocking Jarvis. Obadiah Stane has been secretly shipping weapons to Gulmira to terrorize the village for some reason." I answered. "So I take it that you and Tony went on a test flight with the suit earlier tonight?"

"Yes we did. We had a few small problems, but that was only the cause of high altitude with ice buildup." He reviewed the results.

"Just as long as he doesn't get hurt, then it's good." I noted. I ran upstairs quickly before Tony and Pepper came home. I sat thinking on my bed. There was a lot of trouble going on in this city. They never seem to catch all of the suspects or whoever was behind the whole thing. I browsed around in my closet for a secret panel. Once I located it, I typed in the password and a secret room opened up.

Tonight, I was going to test out my gear. Gear that would hide my vampire abilities if I was ever caught by someone. A simple trick to fool them. I created these a couple of months ago while I was thinking about Tony when he was still missing. Hoping that one day they may come useful if I did saving of my own. I just hope that none of the Cullens would see me tonight on my test run.


	13. Chapter 13 Flight

**Chapter 13: Flight**

I waited for Tony and Pepper to go to bed before I slipped out of the house to begin what I had been planning for months. As soon as they did, I slipped into black clothing and wore black Kevlar armor that was flexible and very sturdy to hide the truth that if someone tried to stab or shoot me, it wouldn't work. I got the whole idea from the "Dark Knight" movie. I crafted a mask of my own idea to hide my identity.

I tied a black cape with a hood and pulled it up. Then I slipped without a sound into the night. I ran all the way to the city and perched on top of a building. I tuned in to what would be going on. I hear the murmurs of voices on TVs, people talking to each other, couples fighting, children crying, and then I heard it. An alarm from a bank was ringing.

From the sound and the thoughts of the people in the bank, I pinpointed the location of the bank. Just a couple of blocks away. I took off jumping over rooftops and sliding down the sides of buildings. My cape flapped in the wind as I ran. I found the bank and stood in the way of the thieves. People were crowding around on the floor terrified.

The robbers stood there and pulled out a gun. They aimed it at me, but once they shot it, I moved very fast so it looked like I merely stepped out of the way. The shell of the bullet clattered on the floor as the shot rang through the building. They fired more shots, but they missed each time. They became angry and came up to me and threw punches which I easily deflected them.

As one closest to me threw another punch, I grabbed his wrist and twisted it around him until I heard a loud crack. His wrist had broken and he screamed in pain. I punched the others and they flew back crashing into the walls and fell unconscious. I heard the sirens of the police get closer and soon they were right behind me and handcuffed the thieves.

"Who are you?" One asked. I smiled underneath my mask. I turned and ran leaving them in shock. I found other places to save people. Some were being mugged in allies, others were in car crashes and I pulled them out and ran them to the hospital. Some were falling off of buildings, but I got there in plenty of time to save them. This continued until 3 in the morning. I ran back quickly to the house and sat on the roof.

I pulled my hood down and took my mask off as I watched the sun rise. The sunlight hit my skin and prisms bounced off of my skin again. That will always happen for as long as I live. It will be a curse to carry. Once the sun had risen, I slipped down into my room. It was still early enough for no one in the house to be up.

I pulled off the Kevlar armor, my cape, mask, black clothes, and pulled out and ran to the bathroom before anyone saw me. I took a shower quickly and when I was done, I hid my gear back in the secret room of my closet. The door leading to it blended in well, so it looked like it was never there in the back of my closet. I pulled out my diary from its hiding place and found a pen and wrote in it.

_I got to be a hero last night. I saved many from car wrecks, thugs, robbers, and many more. I think that I might leave a mark on this. Someone like me, being different and all (literally) may have an effect on it. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't. We're supposed to hide who we truly are and that's what I did last night. I wore a hood, but I knew that wouldn't be enough. So I also wore a mask. If the hood ever came down, no one would see who it is._ _I wonder if they'll come up with a name for me._

I closed it and put it back in its spot and grabbed my drawing notebook. I decided to head downstairs since it was nearly time for Pepper and Tony to be up. They would come in my room and start shaking me hard to get me up. Tony would just start a tickle attack on me. I sat on the couch and opened my book.

I smiled at the pictures I drew in the past. One was a full moon peeking through the shadows of leaves on a tree, another was a forest in the winter with snow on the ground, my favorite one was a branch of leaves touching the water, but only a drop is falling from a blade creating a ripple effect in the water distorting the reflection of the leaves.

I heard a dull thud come from my room up above me. Might be Tony looking for me. I sat my book aside and ran to my room. When I got there, I couldn't find anyone. Everything was the way I left it. Except for one thing. My diary. I found it open on my bed to this morning's entry. I flipped through it and didn't find any markings in it except for mine. I hid my diary again and ran back downstairs.

I focused my anger on drawing a picture based on my emotions. Then I found one. It took me an hour to draw it to get it exact in detail. Pepper and Tony dancing at the Benefit last night. I shaded it in black and white because I thought it looked a lot better like that than in color.

"That's a lovely picture." Tony said next to me. I looked up finding him sitting next to me and viewing my work. "Can I see?" I nodded and handed him the book. He started from the front and worked his way up. "These are amazing." He stopped on an old picture I drew months ago. It was him and me in it. I was laying my head on his shoulder and smiling up at the invisible camera. His head was tilted towards mine, but he was smiling too. "When did you draw this?"

"When you were still missing. I had it stuck in my mind forever, so I drew it." I said to him.

"I like it. It's my favorite." He smiled at me. "We should get a picture like this to hang it up somewhere. Would you like that?" I grinned and nodded. He continued flipping through the book and found more pictures he liked. The one with him and me in it was still his favorite. He handed me back my book and flipped the news on.

"A mysterious figure appeared out of nowhere last night saving dozens of people. From car wrecks to hostages in robberies. Locals are calling it the 'Night Runner' after its incredible speed. Here's some footage of what the locals had to say." The anchorman reported. I looked up and saw someone I saved last night.

"I was taking a walk last night and this man who I don't know came up and pulled me into an ally and started to mug me. I thought that I was going to die. I was so scared. Then out of nowhere, this black figure with a cape on, just appeared out of nowhere like it teleported, but it didn't. It punched the man and it knocked him out. It told me to call the police after it left. I did what it told me. Whoever you are, if you're watching this, I thank you so much. We have a guardian watching over us." The victim described last night. Tony sat next to me and his eyes were wide open with interest. They had more footage of victims reporting what happened to them last night. The story went on for an hour and Tony was fascinated.

I sat there thinking how they were thanking me for what I've done. Just after one night I already have a name. Night Runner. It's very catchy. I might keep it. "Wow." Tony broke my train of thought. "That's incredible. I mean- that's just hard to describe. Do you think Pepper knows about this yet?"

"Oh I know about it." She responded as she walked in. "I was watching it in my room. Dangerous I think to take the law into your own hands, but it's brave enough to do. Someone who cares about this place finally did something about it. They have a heart full of chivalry and compassion. That person or 'hero' as should be now called, is full of determination to help others. That's full bravery right there."

Tony wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "You know what I've noticed about you since I came back?" He asked.

"What?" I asked a bit nervously, but faked it by putting on a smile.

"Your skin is always feeling cool when I touch you every single time." He said. "Are you alright?" He looked with a curious eye.

"I'm perfectly fine. My skin's usually cooler than most people's skin. Like when it's cold outside and most people's hands are warm, my hands are cold." I explained to him. He didn't seem convinced, but he accepted it. The phone rang a few minutes later. "Hello?"

"Hey Riley it's Nicole." Nicole greeted. I felt a surge of anger wash over me.

"Hi." I said flatly.

"I wanted to apologize for how I've been acting around you. Like a stupid girl who's jealous of a famous kid who is a friend of hers." Her voice softened through the phone. She meant every word of it too. _I really mean it too. I hope she forgives me._

"I forgive you." I said to her. She uttered a small gasp of surprise.

"Thank you. Do you want to hang out later today?" She responded.

"If I'm not doing anything."

"Alright. Just call me when you find out."

"Ok."

"Bye." The phone line went dead after that.

"So who was that?" Tony asked while he was chopping up ham for an omelet.

"Nicole."

"And what did she want?" He kept chopping up the slices of ham and other bits.

"She wanted to apologize for treating me like crap for the past couple of months. And she wants to know if she could make it up by hanging out with her today." I explained as I watched him chopping away.

"Well that's nice of her to call." He grinned. "Ouch." His knife slipped on his finger cutting it open and blood started oozing out of the cut. Immediately as I saw it, I forced myself to stay glued to the seat. I stiffened as the scent washed over me tempting me to run over there and drink the blood coming from his finger.

_Don't lose it. Don't lose it. You have a purpose to be here._ I told myself. I was straining very hard now against the seat. My fingers ended up bending the seat of the metal stool out of shape. _STOP IT!_ I held my breath and that cut of the scent of the blood. It helped, but I still held myself against the stool. I watched Tony clean up his mess and use the first aid kit on it.

"Not deep enough for stitches." He examined. "Are you alright Riley?" He looked at me.

"I'm fine." I opened my mouth, but the scent came back in. I quickly held my breath again. "I just don't like looking at blood. It makes me woozy."

"No need to worry about that anymore. Maybe we shouldn't let you watch horror movies." He claimed. I gave a nervous chuckle.


	14. Chapter 14 Revealed

**Chapter 14: Revealed **

"I got something to do today." I quietly told Pepper. She instantly knew what I was talking about. I had a concert today.

"I'll cover for you." She whispered.

"Thanks Pepper." I replied back in a whisper. I grabbed my guitar and Happy snuck me to the arena where our concert was at. Just like always, it was cloudy outside. "Thank you so much Happy. I never get the time to thank you and Pepper for helping me." I said as I got out of the car.

"It's no problem Riley." He assured with a wave of his hand. I "ran" inside where the rest of the band was waiting at. Quickly as I could, I put on my wig and grabbed out my guitar and tuned it.

"Are you ready for today?" Andy asked me anxiously.

"Yep." I grinned. We were all standing on the stage waiting for the curtains to rise. Once it did, many people screamed in delight. We played our songs for a while and we left the stage after we finished. Before I knew it, we were outside heading to the limo. My guitar was already in the car. Some fans got in the way separating me from the rest of the group. I was surrounded by many and I couldn't escape to the limo or back to the arena.

I couldn't find any security guards. I knew I was in trouble. I ran away from them. I wasn't really running from them, I was jogging. So I made it look like I was running from them. A car pulled up and the windows rolled down.

"Hurry and climb in!" A voice commanded me. I didn't hesitate to hurry. I heard millions of screams behind me as I jumped into the car. The door closed behind me just as they were pulling up and started to bang on the windows. I laid my head on the back of the seat and let out a sigh of relief. "And I thought I had it bad." I looked up to find Tony chuckling. I replied back with a shaky laugh. "I'm Tony."

"I'm Riley." I said pretending to be out of breath.

"I have a younger sister named Riley." He exclaimed.

"Really?" I acted surprised.

"Yeah. She's a great fan of you. I wonder why I don't see her among them." He gestured towards the increasing mass of fans as we drove past them on the street. "I'm going to call her and see where she's at." He pulled out his phone and dialed my number. Then my phone in my pocket began ringing the tune that plays whenever Tony calls me. I felt a dread of horror.

He stared at me and his face was straight. I pulled out my phone and answered it with a cracked voice.

"Hello?" I said grinning nervously. He took a deep breath and closed his phone. I closed my as he continued staring at me. I pulled off my wig revealing my long dark hair. "Tada." I said in a small voice.

"Holy. Crap." He stunned. "Riley you're the famous guitar player? My own little sister is a rock star? That's incredible! I can't believe it! That's amazing! How long have you been playing? How long have I've not known this?" He exploded in excitement. I stared at him with my mouth slightly open.

"You're not mad?" I asked in astonishment.

"How can I be mad if you're famous in your own way?" He smiled at me. "Does Pepper know about this?"

"Yes." I said quietly, "She knows about it. I told her on the day you left three months ago. She's been helping me get to the concerts without you knowing the truth to where I was going. So she came up with stories that I would be hanging out with Sam. Sam knows the truth too, but it's just her, Pepper, you, and the Cullens. They're fine to trust to keep my secret."

"You trust Edward a lot don't you?" He asked in the protective brother voice.

"Yeah," I said staring off into space, "I guess I do. Maybe it's because we're really good friends and we watch out for each other." I added looking directly at him.

"I guess I will have to learn to accept that over time." He said. We rode in silence on the way home. I noticed my guitar case sitting outside by the door. Once I reached the door, I opened the case to make sure that my guitar was in there. I snapped it shut once I saw it. I opened the door and walked in.

"The gig's up Pepper. He found out." I called out. She came bustling out of the kitchen and had a strange look on her face.

"Oh darn. It was pretty interesting sneaking you out of the house though. Well at least he knows now, but he has to hide what he knows from the world." She sighed defeated. "Riley, cover your eyes."

"Why?" I asked, but I covered them anyway with my hands. She shushed me up. She and Tony led me to the middle of the room by the couch. They gently pulled my hands away from my eyes. I gasped as I saw a brand new grand piano. It was much closer to the staircase than it was before and I noticed a huge hole in the wooden floor and the ceiling. Tony has some explaining to do later.

"By accident, Tony broke the other one. I don't know how he did though. He wanted to make it up to you by buying you a new one." Pepper explained to me as I walked towards it. I let my fingers glide over the black, smooth, reflective surface. I felt myself smiling at the piano. In the reflection, I could see Tony and Pepper both grinning. I uncovered the keys of piano and felt the ivory. I pressed a key releasing a grand note. I pulled the bench out and sat down.

At first, I didn't know what to play, but then I figured it out. I played Yiruma's 'River Flows in you' because it had that special feeling whenever I played it. Once I was playing it, Pepper and Tony sat down near the piano and were listening with great interest. I heard the soft beeping of Pepper dialing a number in her phone.

"You need to hear this." She said quietly in the receiver. The phone was close by, but I played a bit louder for those on the other end of the line to hear. My fingers flowed over the ivory keys and I got lost in the music. Apparently so did Tony, by telling the look on his face. As soon as I finished, they burst into applause.

"That was lovely." Tony sat next to me and put an arm around me.

"Thanks." I replied. I could smell a pleasant scent of Axe on him. That immediately caused my throat to scorch in flames. I ignored it by holding my breath.

"What's that song called and who wrote it?"

"It's called 'River Flows in You' by a Korean pianist who was trained in England. His name is Yiruma. His compositions are amazing. I could find more of his songs and figure out how to play them if you want me to." I explained.

"That would be interesting. His music _is _very fascinating. Only if you want to figure out how to play them, I'm fine with that." He commented.

"Thanks for the new piano." I grinned at him.

"It was no problem. I like hearing my little sis play the piano." He gave me a noogie. Pepper had walked away to check today's schedule.

"So, how did you break the other piano?" I asked

"While I was test running the suit, I was on top of the house and turned off the suit and ended up smashing through the ceiling, floor, piano, and my blue car with the white stripes. I love that car."

"Hmm I bet Dummy finally got a chance to dowse you, eh?" I smirked.

"Yeah he did." He rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. _I can't believe a stupid robot dowsed me with CO2 for no reason. _I laughed quietly at his thought. "What's so funny?"

"It's nothing." I waved it away. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Sure Riley." He still narrowed his at me with suspicion. "I want you to come take a look at the newly painted suit, which I'm guessing that, the gloves to be adjusted." He stood up and headed downstairs to the shop.

"I'm up for it. I want to see it." I said in excitement. I jogged to follow him. As we were walking down the stairs, I came up with an idea. "Do you want me to make doors for you to use instead of the ceiling and floors?"

"That's a clever idea. Maybe we should have them be activated only by us. If they were motion censored by anyone on the upper floors, it could reveal the truth about us." He explained.

I thought about it. "You have a point there. I'll start on it as soon as I can."

"Good girl. Now let me show what the suit looks like now." He pulled me to where the new and painted suit hung. "What do you think?" I stared at it in amazement.

"It's amazing. What did you paint it with?" I kept examining it.

"It's painted with gold-titanium alloy. And I threw in a little bit of red in it because it matches well." He explained as I felt the smooth surface of the dark red and gold metal. "I should probably fix the gloves so they work properly." He pulled out a long screwdriver and the two gloves and slipped one on. He sat down on the couch and turned on the TV while he fixed his gloves. The news covered the story about today's concert.

Tony was listening while he was tightening one of the gloves. It hummed as the repulsors brightened up unleashing a low energy and then it turned off. He put the fixed glove with the suit and worked on the other one. As he worked the other one, a new story headline appeared on the screen. Tony's attention dropped from the glove to the TV. The town Gulmira was the headline.

It was under attack by the Ten Rings; the same group that held Tony hostage. Tony still looked at the TV as he continued to fix his glove. His expression turned hard and he stiffened in his seat. The camera found the leader of the group from a distance. He had a nasty injury on his head. _He looks a lot better with that injury on his head that I gave him in the caves._ Then the footage turned into a huge group of people on a long trail walking away from the town.

The reporter described everything about the attack in Gulmira. The words were buzzing around in my head and they seemed to be doing the same thing in Tony's too. He fixed his glove and stood up. He looked at his reflection in the window for a few moments. I could hear the words of the reporter in his head; branding them into his memory. He raised his hand that had the repulsors and fired at the glass. I jumped in surprise and covered my ears over the noise.

He fired again at other panes of glass and stopped. He looked down at the floor. "I'm ashamed of myself." He quietly said. "I made these weapons that are ruining the lives of innocent people." I walked up slowly to him being cautious if he would fire again. I put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. He looked at me. "I know what I must do." He walked to the suit and placed the other fixed glove next to the suit. "Wait here." I heard him walk to the closet in the other room and pull out a polymer suit. I waited patiently for him to put it on as I sat in the opposite room.

He walked back into the main room wearing a black suit that would help resist strong g-forces in flight. We walked to a pad area where he stood on there. The floor opened beneath revealing his suit in parts. I watched as robots were putting the frame on him and added the rest of the armor by drilling it on him to attach it. The last piece to go on him was his helmet. Where the eyes were at, turned blue letting me know that Jarvis was up and working.

"We're very lucky that Pepper left earlier." I said. He turned his head and the blue rectangle eyes were staring at me.

"I need you to monitor things here in case something happens. You'll be hooked up to the suit wirelessly through the computer so you can monitor what is happening around me." He instructed. I nodded in understanding what I'm supposed to do. He walked to the entrance of the shop that led outside and got ready to take off.

"Good luck." I said.

"You too." He replied. Then his repulsors fired up and he shot fast to the outer world with a resounding boom.


	15. Chapter 15 Gulmira

**Chapter 15: Saving Gulmira **

As soon as he left the shop, I ran to the computer hooking up the communication system from here to his suit. At first, I didn't hear anything even though I got a perfect signal. "Is it working?" Tony asked.

"Yep it's working. I had to tinker with it for a bit because I didn't get any sound." I explained through the headset. We bickered over using the computer in general or the headset to communicate. I came up with a good reason why using the headset. Pepper, Rhodey, or even Stane could barge in while Tony was out flying. He knew he couldn't disagree to it.

"Just as long as it's working, it's good." He replied. I could hear beeping from the inside of the suit. His heart was in fine condition. "Time to go sonic." I heard the blast from the jets and could hear his heart accelerate from the sudden burst of thrust.

"Steady your beating so it doesn't go out of control and you end up in cardiac arrest." I monitored. He took a few deep breaths and his heart rate slow down back to normal.

"How could you tell my heart rate was going up?"

"I'm hooked up to the inside of the suit remember? I promise I won't screw with anything unless you want me to. Like hack into the Air Force if they're coming after you while you're flying." I reminded him. Half of it was true.

"Alright, I can see Gulmira." He reported. I could hear the explosions that were created by missiles and rapid gunfire. I heard the screams of innocent people being hunted down and killed by terrorists. My throat had that choked feeling when I was about to cry when I was human. So this is what it feels like to cry as a vampire. You have the feelings, but no tears. Just dry sobs.

I waited for about five to ten minutes for Tony to get rid of the weapons that were held over there. "Is it done?" I asked taking a deep breath.

"Yes. It's done." He replied. Suddenly, I heard rapid beeping coming from his suit.

"You got two F-22 Raptors coming up on both sides of you." I reported from viewing the screen that showed what Tony was seeing on his screen. Sure enough, I could hear the roaring of the jets get closer to him before he could even hear them. "They're from the Airbase Rhodey is at."

"Ah crap I got to shake them off." He flared. I heard the built-in phone ring. "Oh good to make this even better." He replied with sarcasm. It was Rhodey. I was cut out from the conversation. It was a frightening five minutes I had to anxiously wait for. I was gripping the sides of the seat a little too hard and it broke easily under my strength. Crap that was the second chair I needed to add to the list to be replaced. I heard my brother's voice gasping for breath a few minutes later.

"What happened?" I asked keeping alert.

"A Raptor tried to take me out and when I was underneath them, they rolled me off and one crashed into me, which the wing broke off. And now, I need to save a pilot that's falling to his death because his parachute isn't opening." He panted. He took off towards the falling pilot. Jarvis was telling him something, but he didn't care. "Keep going!" His hands were getting closer and closer to the helpless pilot. _So close!_ His thoughts were racing just like his heart. He let out a yell of frustration to reach him.

His armored hand punched through the jammed releaser of the parachute. And with a loud WHOMP, the parachute opened up and the pilot drifted down. Tony then shot back upward getting too near to the ground. "You are really lucky Pepper's not finding out about this." I breathed in amazement.

He started chuckling. "I'll be home soon. And you better hope she doesn't find out. I'll meet you home. Rhodey is calling me, so I'll see you later." He continued chuckling. I locked the program in the computer after I said my good bye to Tony. Pepper still wasn't home, so I decided to work on those doors. I grabbed a box full of wires, steel panels, bolts, and tools to begin working on the doors that would cover up the holes in the floor and the roof.

It took two hours to get the doors in there and working properly before I could set wood onto the floor doors and the other necessary materials for the other hole. I was on the main floor when I could hear the roar of the jets letting me know that Tony was downstairs in the shop. I ran down there before he could see me running very fast.

"Riley! I might need your help!" Tony called. I hurried over to my brother who was balancing on the platform trying to get the suit off. "Ok, ouch! Jarvis, that's hurting me!"

"Please hold still Sir. It is a tight fit." Jarvis responded. I heard footsteps coming from upstairs walking down here. Someone was walking over the glass broken doors and gasped in surprise.

"What's going on here?" Pepper panicked. Tony stood still while balancing on one foot.

"Ok, let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." He turned his head in her direction.

"Are those bullet holes?" Her voice was quieter as she looked carefully at him. He did indeed have bullet holes in his suit and I could smell a little blood; time for me to hold my breath again. I walked over to the table and grabbed out a drill and walked to Tony. I stood up on the platform and he instructed me where to loosen screws at.

"Yes Pepper they are bullet holes." He replied looking at me, but I was busy getting him out of the suit. I could feel his eyes on me as I worked. "You're doing a pretty good job for the first time with the new suit." He commented quietly.

"Thanks." I replied in the same tone as I pulled a couple of bolts out allowing him to take the chest plate off. I began on working on the gloves after I helped him take the chest piece off. "You know you're bleeding a little?"

"Am I really?" He asked.

"Yeah, on the forehead a little and you might also be on the shoulders." I replied. I got another set of bolts off and helped him get it off. Then I began quickly on working the other arm.

"Riley you knew about this?" She asked.

"Yes. I helped him build it too." I replied, "Like with you knowing my secret and Tony didn't know it. Only, it's the opposite right now."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Since he came back, so it's not very long. While he's flying I keep an eye on his heart patterns incase if something goes wrong. Or if he does something reckless, then I end up yelling at him through the monitors for you." I explained as I pulled off the other glove off. I handed him the drill.

"Thanks." He muttered quietly,

"No problem." I replied. He started getting the rest of his suit off by himself while I put the chest piece and the gloves back in their spots. I did the same with the rest of the suit when Tony got out of it. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Well," He began looking around, "first things first. I need to bandage up myself from those injuries I got from that nice group of men who are terrorists. Then I'm going to see what I can do to stop bullets from coming through the suit. That could be trouble if it came through all the way. I might run some diagnostic tests later."

"Mind if I help?" I asked him.

"I don't care whatsoever. I like it when you help. It gives me something to do with you; that also remind me that I need to find a day where it's just you and me hanging out together." He replied grinning at me.

"Cool." I flashed a perfect smile at him. So for the rest of the day, I helped Tony run tests to see how we could improve the suit's withstand of bullets. And occasionally I had to stop to help him bandage himself up.

"That village Gulmira we saved today," He said suddenly staring off into space.

"What about it?"

"The man who saved my life was from there. He helped create the first Mark 1 with me in those caves. He also helped me build my mini arc reactor to help keep the shrapnel out of my heart. Only the thing is he's gone. He died in the caves when we were escaping that day." He finished with a downcast look. I wrapped my arm around his arm and leaned my head against him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I could only say. "What was his name?"

"His name was Yinsen."

"We should make a memorial for him."

"Yes we should."

* * *

*****DON'T FORGET TO VOTE ON THE POLL TOPIC THAT IS NEAR THE TOP OF MY PROFILE! I WOULD LIKE TO GET MORE VOTES! THANKS-Superherofan95**


	16. Chapter 16 Secrets

**Chapter 16: Secrets**

I gazed out in wonder out my window the next day trying to figure out what to do. I began to run my fingers over the locket that Edward had given to me thinking very hard. My phone began buzzing on my desk. I ran over to it and answered it. "Hello?"

"Riley. It's Alice."

"Well hi Alice."

"Are you up for playing your first baseball game as a vampire today?"

"That's definitely a yes. I'll be over there soon."

"I'll tell the others. They'll be thrilled."

"Ok. Bye."

"See you real soon."

I pressed the red END button on my phone and walked downstairs where I found Tony sitting at the counter. I greeted him with a hug from behind.

"Morning kiddo."

"Hi." I replied while leaning my head against his shoulder.

"Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Mm-hm. Alice was wondering if I wanted to come over to her house for a while to hang out with them, if that's alright with you." I told him.

"I'm fine with that. Just be home before supper." He agreed.

"Thank you."

"How are you going to get there?"

"I'll find a way. I'm not going to go mooching off of my friends for a ride. Oh wait! I have that bike you gave me last year for my birthday."

"Just make sure you wear a helmet and don't get a ticket."

I replied with a grin and walked to the garage. I found my black motorbike waiting for me with the helmet sitting on the seat. I rolled it outside and put my helmet on and got on. I inserted the key into it and kicked the bike into life. I felt pretty good to get out of the house today by my bike. I felt stuck that I couldn't run all the way there, but that would be too risky. I rode all the way to the Cullens' house with a free feeling in me.

I pulled up into their driveway and saw Emmett outside. He looked in curiosity at me. I pulled the keys out and kicked my kickstand down. I pulled my helmet off and he gaped at me.

"What?"

"That's your bike?"

"Um…yeah it is. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No. It's just that you normally don't see girls riding those." He replied with a smirk. I got up and sat my helmet on the seat and ran up and tackled Emmett to the ground. I held him in a painful grip and he started slamming his fist on the ground. "Alright I give. I give!"

"Good. I'll tell Rosalie that a big bear named Emmett was beaten by a girl." I got up and walked to the door. Emmett got up brushing the dirt off of him and grumbling. I saw Alice waiting at the door. She opened it and ran out to greet me.

"Hey you," She hugged me, "that's a nice bike you got there."

"Thanks." I replied. She held the door open and we walked in. I relaxed the instant I stepped inside the house. "Ah it feels good to be in here." I saw Jasper walking down the stairs with Carlisle and Esme.

"Riley." They greeted me with hugs. Jasper had the bat and the balls in a bag ready to go.

"So how are you?" Carlisle asked.

"I've been pretty good." I replied, "And what about you?"

"I've been up to the same old thing for the past hundreds of years." He replied with a chuckle, "Working at the hospital and saving people."

"Edward's at the field waiting for us. We shouldn't keep him waiting to see you." She pulled us out of the house. "All set?" She asked the others. They nodded in agreement and we took off to the field. I had beaten everyone within a couple of seconds. I could see Edward's thoughts and he was turning in my direction looking for me. I spotted him around fifteen seconds later and I ran into his outstretched arms in a bear (or as in this case, lion) hug and he swung me around.

"Hi." I grinned at him. He smiled the crooked smile at me.

"Hello. And how are you doing today?" He hugged me.

"I've been bored all morning. What about you?"

"I've been anxious to see you again. I see you are wearing your locket."

"Yes I am and I love it. Now are we going to be on the same team or against each other?" I asked as we walked toward the home base.

"How about we what happens when we are against each other?" He thought slowly, "It could be interesting to see."

"I think that's a good idea." I replied. The others showed up a minute later. We then took our positions on the field. The clouds overhead unleashed a loud boom in the air and we began to play. Jasper was up to bat first on our team that had him, me, and Rosalie. Alice stood on the pitcher's mound and threw a fastball. I watch as I could easily follow the ball now. It felt so strange being able to see things differently.

Jasper pulled back and swung the bat hitting the ball. It flew deep into the woods, but Edward reacted instantly and ran very fast to catch it. Jasper ended up getting out and it was my turn to bat. I focused my attention on Alice as she wound up the pitch. She released and I swung hitting the ball with a very loud crack. I let go of the bat as soon I hit the ball and ran to the bases. Emmett and Edward were scrambling to grab the ball and to tag me out. To my surprise, they didn't make it. I knew that I was fast as Edward, but I didn't know that I had beaten him to a homerun.

"Good lord!" Edward exclaimed. I began laughing and the others joined with me. Then it was Rosalie's turn. She ended up getting out and Jasper was up again. He got out too. Man they were tough. Soon, it was Edward's turn to bat, which I gladly waited for. He swung when the ball was thrown and he hit it with a very loud crack I could have thought that the ball was split in two.

The ball flew far into the woods. I began to run after it with blistering speed just like Edward had done. I noticed the ball out of the corner of my eye as it flew above my head. Quickly, I pushed off against a tree and was up in the air and caught the ball. I threw it as hard as I could back to home base where Esme was at. I ran back to the field to see the result. Edward had slid to home near the last couple of feet, but he made it.

"You were really close Riley!" Alice exclaimed, "You missed him by a millisecond!" I gaped at her in amazement. Had I really done that? Apparently I guess I did. Everyone else gave out comments of approval and surprise. No one was as fast as Edward. That was, until I came. I grinned in delight at the fun. Overhead, the clouds that were threatening to release their rain attacked us with a downpour.

The field was quickly turning from a solid meadow, to a mushy land. Puddles of muddy water were forming quickly. "Aw." Emmett complained, "I wanted to see who would win." We all gathered up our equipment and ran back home. The rain was soaking me wet to the bone and it drenched my hair completely. We all headed to some bathrooms and grabbed towels to dry our hair. Alice guided me to her room and she pulled out a shirt and jeans that suited my taste for me.

"I know how much you don't like to wear frilly things, so I got you this." She handed me a black shirt. It was a band shirt by telling from the writing. I held it up and began laughing. It was a Black Void shirt.

"That's funny Alice." I kept laughing, "How did you get this? They don't sell these yet."

"Oh I pulled some strings." She grinned. "Besides, they're my favorite." Then she began laughing with me. Her soprano voice filled the room.

"What are you two laughing about?" Rosalie glided into the room. I tossed my shirt at her and she caught it and held it up to read it. Understanding the joke, she joined in the laugh. "That's clever Alice. That's very clever." We began to settle down still grinning as we changed our clothes. I grabbed a tissue to clean of my locket that Edward had given me. Very carefully I began to rub it gently.

"Oh that's a cute locket. Did Edward give it to you?" Alice trilled at the sight. I nodded with a smile. "Well he has good taste." I tossed the tissue in the garbage and followed Alice and Rosalie downstairs. I saw a large collection of graduation hats by the stairwell as we went downstairs. Recently, Emmett and Rosalie added a cap to it.

"Hmm just think Alice. You get to be a senior again for the umpteenth time." I noted. She chuckled. The others were downstairs sitting on the couch with the T.V on a sports channel. Edward wasn't paying much attention to it. He twisted in his seat when he heard us enter the room. He wore a blue button up shirt that he rolled the sleeves just above his elbows and black jeans.

"Nice shirt." He smirked walking up to me.

"It was Alice's idea for a joke." I replied. He began chuckling.

"So what do you want to do while we wait for the rain to stop before I take you back home?" He asked.

"I don't know." I confessed. "What are you thinking about doing?"

He pursed his lip in deep thought thinking. "Want to hear a few pieces I composed?" He asked after a few minutes of silence. I nodded in agreement. He gently pulled me to the piano and sat down while I sat down next to him and watched him with curiosity.

He placed his hands on the keys and began playing. _This one is Esme's favorite. It's about how she and Carlisle found each other._ His fingers glided over the keys creating a very beautiful piece.

_It's beautiful._

_You might recognize this one._ The song morphed into a new song after a couple of minutes. Instantly I recognized it.

_Its Bella's Lullaby isn't it?_

_Yes it is._ I could feel sadness deep within him. I leaned my head against his shoulder in comfort hoping to somewhat ease his burden. After that one was finished, a new piece began. _This one made me think of you a lot._

_Really?_

_Yes. You have a strong determination to protect those that you care about. You put their safety before yours. Then you have a calming side when you're not focused on protecting others._ The song had a strong beginning that was represented my protective side and very calming piece in the middle that would make humans help humans fall asleep that represented my gentle side. He kept playing for a few more minutes and I felt myself getting lost in the music. Only then did I realize that he stopped playing and I found him smiling at me.

"What?" I asked sitting up straight.

"You were so still, I thought you fell asleep, but then I remembered that you're not human." He explained. "Let's hear you play something." We then traded spots on the bench and I surprised him with my talent. I played Tony's favorite song by Yiruma which was River Flows in You. I heard the others turn down the volume on the T.V and they gathered around to listen. After that one I played Kiss the Rain, then Dream, Leave Behind, Sweet Dream My Dear, and Never Forget.

Once I finished, they began clapping. They were very impressed. "Those were really beautiful Riley." Alice piped up.

"I got to say, I'm normally not a fan of piano music, but after you playing those that makes me want to listen to Edward play more often." Emmett admitted. _I wish I could take back those things I said to him that it's uninteresting. Riley proved me wrong._

"No hard feelings Emmett." Edward replied. I got a few more comments after that and Edward decided to take me home. The rain stopped, but it was still cloudy. He held the door open for me and I walked out as I said my goodbyes. "You're quite a piano player Riley." He commented as we headed towards my bike.

"Thanks. I'm not as good as you though." I commented back. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"That's very touching." He replied. "Just call us if you need anything. We'll be there." We approached my bike. I hugged him goodbye and his scent fill my nostrils.

"Bye." I waved. He waved back as I put my helmet on and started the bike. I pushed the kickstand back and took off for home. The after rain washed over me as I sped through the woods and into town. Water was dripping off of leaves from the trees and signs on buildings. Little sprays of water flew past me as I sped by. I got closer to my house once I past the harbor.

I pulled into the garage and shut off my bike and put my helmet away. I cut through the workshop and I didn't find Tony in there. I headed upstairs and found Tony looking out the window. He turned around when he saw me in the reflection. "Hey Riley," He pulled me into a hug, "What took you so long? You've been gone all day."

"The rain held me up so I couldn't go riding home on my bike." I replied. "Where's Pepper at?"

"She's at the office sneaking in to find out why Stane was shipping those weapons." He answered letting me go and we sat down on the couch. It was 4 in the afternoon to my surprise. "So what did you do over at the Cullens today?"

"Edward and I had a playoff on his piano. It was quite fun." I grinned at him.

"Did you beat him?"

"I was quite close. He's very good. He even composes some songs and wrote one that's about me because I inspired him." I replied.

"Well maybe you should compose one about him. He'll like it."

"I should go do that. If I'm going to, then I need to brainstorm up in my room."

"You go ahead and do that. I need figure some things with the suit. Supper's at 6."

"Okay." I replied as I headed upstairs to my room. I paced around trying to figure out what to do. I grabbed out a sheet of paper and a pencil and sat down at my desk. It only took me a couple of minutes to figure out what to do. I decided to draw a portrait of the Cullens since I didn't have any pictures of them in my room except for the one of Edward that I drew months ago. I spent two hours working on it and headed downstairs. I waltzed into the kitchen where I found Tony eating a sandwich.

"Hungry?" He asked with a muffle.

"Just a little." I replied. He finished his sandwich in a couple of bites.

"Well you can do what you want for food." He replied leaving the kitchen to go answer his cell phone. I heard the movement of fabric and the beeping of the button he pressed to answer his phone. Then I heard a high pitch buzzing noise and I heard Tony's heart rate speed up. _Riley I wish you could read my thoughts! Stay in the kitchen!_ He thought he was uselessly begging. I hid near the entrance and moved very slowly.

"Breathe. Easy. Easy." A too familiar voice instructed slowly. I let out an inaudible gasp and I heard Tony gasp. "Do you remember this one Tony? Such a shame that the government didn't accept to buy it." Stane sat him back on the couch. Tony's gaze found me. He was ashen in the face. Stane took a seat next to him. "When I ordered the hit on you, I was afraid that I killed the Golden Goose. But it was fate that you survived it." He said as he pulled out a device with a handle.

My heart would have stopped if I was alive. Did he say that he ordered the hit? I wished I was imagining this, but I wasn't. "Then once I did that, I knew I had to get rid of your sister. So I ordered a truck driver to collide with the car she was in that night months ago." He placed the device on top of Tony's arc reactor and pulled it out with a whir. Tony gasped in pain as it locked on to its target. I felt my hands curl into fists and I struggled very hard to not to launch myself at Stane. "Your father helped give us the atom bomb. Now imagine what the world would be like if he didn't?" He then ripped it out of the chest piece and Tony let out a groan.

His heart doubled the rate it was originally going. "Oh Tony this is beautiful. This is your legacy. Imagine weapons being powered by arc reactors. It would go well in the right hands." He sat down next to him tantalizing him. He reached for a case and placed it in it. "I wish you could see my prototype. It's not as conservative as yours. Such a shame you had to bring Pepper into this. I would have preferred that she lived." He got up and left him there dying and left the house. Once he left, I hurried to my brother. I helped him sit up.

"Lean on me Tony. I got it. I know where to go." I told him. I heaved him as gently as possible on one side of me. His heart was increasing and I began to worry. He was drenched with sweat as he laid there in fear. I pulled him to the elevator and pressed the workshop floor button. "Come on, come on. Hurry up." I muttered in a low voice. The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened. I hurried out of there and sat him against a chair. I jogged around the room thinking what to use. There's no way that I could build another one in time to save my brother. Then I spotted it.

The old chest piece my brother wore. I grabbed the case and smashed it open. Glass went flying everywhere littering the floor with shards. I grabbed the chest piece and jogged back to Tony who was slipping consciousness. I inserted it the way he showed me to and he jolted. His heart was growing faint. "No. No! No Tony you can't leave me!" I pleaded. I waited and his heart grew fainter. I squeezed my eyes shut bracing for the impact. But then his heart got louder and grew stronger. His eyes were closed, but he was alive.


	17. Chapter 17 The Fight on the Roof

**Chapter 17: The Fight on the Roof**

I waited patiently for my brother to awake. From above, I heard a door open and I heard someone running down the stairs. "Tony!" Rhodey called. "Tony! Tony, are you ok?" He ran over to us. "Riley, what happened?"

"Stane pulled his chest piece out of him and left him dying. I brought him down here to put the old chest piece on him. He was on the verge of blacking out. Once I put it on him, he became still and wasn't moving. But he's alive. He's breathing." I rushed through the details. Rhodey put a hand on my shoulder.

"It's ok. Just take a couple of deep breaths. You did the right thing to bring him down here." He assured me. I didn't realize my breathing was in gasps. I slowed it down and I was calmer. Tony stirred on the floor and his eyes opened. We helped him sit up.

"Where's Pepper?" He asked in a rough voice gripping Rhodey's forearms for support.

"She's fine. She's with five agents. They're about to arrest Obadiah." He explained.

"That's not going to be enough." Tony realized. He heaved himself into a standing position. "Follow me." He walked to a storage closet and pulled out the poly fiber suit he wears whenever he was going to put the armored suit on. I knew what he was going to do.

"Are you crazy? Stane's could be stronger than yours. He could kill you!" I retorted.

He turned and faced me. "Then it's a chance I'll have to take." He ran into the other room and pulled the suit on and ran out back here and ran to the pad where the flight suit was stored at waiting to be used.

Rhodey was very confused. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

"Rhodey, remember that talk we had when that F-22 Raptor hit me?"

"Yeah I remember."

"Well now you get to see the suit." He explained as he stepped onto the pad. It opened up and the parts came out. Robot arms were putting the plates on him and drilling them together. After a minute of getting it together, Rhodey was very impressed.

"Wow. That's the coolest thing I've ever seen." He breathed as he watched the suit being put together.

"Not bad huh?" Tony replied. He stepped down one the suit was together. Only the helmet was open revealing his face. He blasted the blue and white car out of the way. He turned around and faced us.

"Need me to do anything?" Rhodey asked.

The helmet closed with a clank. "Keep the skies clear." Tony instructed. He blasted off through the doors that I made and headed out. Rhodey stood there mouth gaped open. He saw the other suit hanging up.

"Next time baby." He turned to one of Tony's fastest cars. "Riley I'm going to go the command center to make sure they don't send anything out. Do what you can to help Tony." He climbed in the sliver car and the engine roared into life. He took off with a squeal and left me alone in the garage.

"Oh I will help." I replied. I ran with inhuman speed back to my room where my closet was concealing my suit. I quickly pulled it on and ran out of the house down to the factory as fast as I could. As I was running, a figure appeared beside me. "What are you doing here?" I yelled.

"Alice had a vision of what happened. We're going to help you." Edward called. He was dressed completely in black and he wore a black mask hiding his identity. Then behind me, the other Cullens appeared also wearing black and masks.

"Follow me!" I ordered. I led the way down town past cars and pedestrians walking on sidewalks. I didn't care if they saw us. They've seen me dressed like this before. I heard them gasp as they felt eight gusts of cold air blowing by them. I saw the building come in the view and we ran faster towards it. I saw a figure with ginger hair wearing a black dress suit running outside of the building. Pepper! I heard her screaming as the ground was shaking beneath her.

A metal giant clawed out of the ground and Pepper unleashed a scream of terror. "Where do you think you're going?" Stane asked. She ran trying to find a spot to take cover. "Your services are no longer required." His suit opened at the arm revealing a gun that was aiming at her. Out of nowhere, I heard a familiar sound of jets arriving.

"Stane!" Tony bellowed as he smashed into him. Pepper dodged out of the way avoiding to be hit.

"Esme, Rosalie, and Alice, get Pepper out of there!" Carlisle yelled. They ran ahead of us and reached Pepper.

"We're getting you out of here." Alice had to yell to be heard above the noise. "Climb on Esme's back and we'll get you to safety." She did was she was told and they quickly got her out of danger. The rest of us ran to Tony to help him as best as we could. Tony had knocked Stane into the highway where cars were swerving to avoid hitting them. Stane lifted a car full of a family and threw it at Tony.

Tony grunted in strain as he caught the car. The driver who was screaming slammed her foot on the gas pedal as Tony sat the car down. She ended up pushing him on the highway. Sparks were flying everywhere.

"Lady! Stop the car!" Tony yelled. His grip was slipping on the car and he ended going underneath and heaved the car away from him. It sent him tumbling violently away towards Stane. He saw him coming towards him and took a nearby motorcycle and whacked Tony with it. The force of the hit pushed him near a bus where passengers were scrambling to get off.

Car horns and sirens were blaring as we ran past them. Edward and I reached Stane first before the others. We launched ourselves off of a turned over empty car and aimed Stane. The power of the hit knocked him over hard. "What the-" Stane began, but he couldn't finish because the second wave of vampires collided with him leaving huge dents in the suit. We got up quickly and moved out of the way because Stane was getting up. Tony distracted him by throwing huge chunks of rubble at him. Stane swatted him away and Tony landed on top of the empty bus. "For years I spent building this company up. Now I'm taking you down with it. Nothing's going to stand in my way." Stane roared. He turned around and a rocket was being fired from his suit. "Least of all, you won't be." The rocket exploded on the bus engulfing it in flames.

Tony was thrown up high in the air, but he caught himself by quickly turning on his jets. He hovered in front of Stane. "Impressive! You've upgraded your armor! I've made some adjustments of my own." Stane bellowed. His suit began whirring at the feet unleashing large jets that spewed out very large amounts of hire and smoke.

"Sir, it appears that his suit can fly!" Jarvis noted.

"Duly noted, take me to maximum altitude." Tony ordered.

"But sir, with only fifteen percent of power left, the odds of you surviving are," Jarvis began.

"I know the math! Just do it!" Tony interrupted fiercely. Jarvis had no choice but to obey.

"Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper, and Edward," I yelled over the noise, "Get these people to safety!" They nodded and carried off people away from the danger. I found a young boy trapped in a car. I pulled the door clean off of the car. "It's alright. I'm here to help you." I unbuckled him from the twisted seatbelt.

"Can you help my mommy?" He asked pointing to his bleeding unconscious mother.

"I will. Let me get you out first." I replied. He reached his arms towards me and I lifted him out. I ran towards a man that appeared to be his father. I ran back to the lady in the car and lifted her out. Her blood was drawing me near to her. _Fight it! Fight it! You can do it!_ I kept telling myself. I held my breath and carried her to her husband to inform him that I would be taking her to the hospital. "Just go to the hospital and they'll let you know that she's there." He nodded in an understanding way. "Your mom will be fine." I assured to the little boy. I took off and ran to the hospital.

I ran through the doors of the emergency room and people were startled. "There's a woman that needs help." I called to the nearest nurses. They rushed to us with a gurney. I laid her down gently on it. "There's a man and a young boy that are coming. They'll be here any minute."

"Thank you for bringing her to us." One said. I nodded and I took off back to Edward and the others. I saw the little boy and his father walking in the hospital as I ran out. Quickly, I arrived back. Everyone was cleared out of the way and was safe away from the danger.

Edward ran up to me. "We got them out of the way. Should we look for your brother now?"

"Yeah, we need to find him as soon as possible." I replied. Suddenly, I heard a crash from the roof.

"Let's go." Edward responded to the crash from above. "Carlisle, go find the others. We can handle it from here."

"Just be careful you two. If you need us, you know what to do. If you smell blood, hold your breath." Carlisle instructed. We nodded and set off for the roof. We zoomed up the stairs in the building in a few seconds. We found him on the roof with a glove off and his helmet open.

"Pepper, I need to get out of this suit quickly. It's draining power." He said. Then he looked up. "Who are you?"

_Should I tell him?_

_I guess now is the time._

_I wish it wasn't one of those times._

_Yes I know._

I took a deep breath and lowered my hood and pulled my mask off. Tony began to splutter.

"Riley?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's me Tony." I replied sadly.

"And who is that next to you?"

Edward pulled his mask off revealing himself. "Hi." He greeted quietly.

"You are both in this together?" He asked.

"Yes." We replied together.

"I made some special gear that makes us run faster when we wear it. I was working on them while you were missing." I half-told the truth. I did make some gear, but it really doesn't do anything. Not yet at least. "So what happened to Stane?"

"He had an icing problem." Tony replied.

"Nice." I fist bumped him. I remembered when Tony had his icing problem. "Long story, but to shorten it, he got an ice buildup on his suit."

"Ah, that's a clever plan." Edward replied with a smirk. Then was a loud bang behind us. We turned around sharply and found Stane behind us. Tony flipped his helmet back on. Edward pulled me out of the way right when Stane punched Tony. He flew back and landed hard on his back. He stood up and fired a punch back at him, but Stane caught him. He had him in a tight grip and began squeezing him.

I heard cracks and sparks were flying everywhere. "Weapons status!" Tony grunted trying to break free.

"All weapons are offline." Jarvis reported.

"Flares!" Tony yelled. Edward pulled me under his arm as flares ricocheted off of them. Smoke was everywhere. When we peaked out from beneath our arms, Tony had disappeared leaving Stane looking around. Quickly we got up and hid behind a large wall.

"Very clever Tony." Stane commented on his disappearance. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tony hiding across the landing from us. He motioned us to follow him. With Stane's back turned on us, we ran silently to Tony.

"I wasn't joking when I said these made us fast." I murmured to him.

"Jeeze, Riley!" He gasped at our sudden approach. "I need to contact Pepper." I nodded an agreement. "Potts,"

"Tony! Oh my god! Are you ok?" Pepper panicked.

"I'm fine. None of this is working. I need you to get into the mainframe and turn everything on the arc reactor. We're going to fry the roof." Tony instructed.

"Ok. I'm going in now." Her voice was a bit shaken. He then turned to us.

"We need to get him above the arc reactor. Once we do, both of you run down and get Pepper out of here." He whispered to us. We nodded and set to work. Edward and I circled around Stane.

"Stane," I called to him when I saw him. I ran past him. Then it was Edward's turn to distract him. He darted across his path. We both ran across his path again and stopped in front of him.

"What the-" Stane spluttered. Then Tony jumped on his back and began pulling wires out of the suit.

"This looks important!" Tony yanked wires out. Stane groaned as the lights went out in his suit and he couldn't see. He reached his hand behind him and flipped Tony over him pulling the helmet off and he slid across the glass ceiling.

Stane's suit opened up revealing him. "I have to say Tony. I normally don't have a taste for this type of stuff." He held the helmet in his hands and crushed it throwing it at his hands.

"Riley," Tony yelled. I ran near the quarreling two. "Edward! Get her out of here!"

Edward wrapped his hands around me and picked me up turning away from Tony. "No. Wait! No! No!" But Edward took me away from him. "No! Edward, take me back! Take me back!" Please!" He flitted at full speed downstairs to Pepper.

"Ok Tony, it's ready. Get off the roof." Pepper said through the Bluetooth. I heard bullets being fired from up above. Glass shattered and fell down around us.

"Duck!" I yelled. Edward and I pulled Pepper out of the way of the falling glass. The glass bounced off of my skin and shattered onto the floor. We looked up once the glass stopped falling. Tony was hanging onto the frame of the ceiling with one arm.

"Pepper, time to push the button!" Tony yelled.

"You'll die!" Pepper yelled back. Tony gripped loosened.

"Do it now!"

She had tears falling down her face, but she took a deep breath and slammed her hand on the button. Edward and I ran out of the building with Pepper with us at top speed. The building filled with blue light and electricity crackling and loud humming. The gathered electricity moved up to the roof where Tony was thrown to the side on top. Stane let out an electrocuted scream and half the city went dark. Stane teetered slowly and fell down into the arc reactor and the machine exploded with Stane with it.

We flitted up to the roof where we saw Tony lying there. The chest piece was flickering and went out. "Tony!" Pepper screamed.


	18. Chapter 18 Sticking to the Cards

**Chapter 18: Sticking to the Cards**

"How are you feeling today?" I asked Tony at the press meeting the next morning before he was going on in three minutes.

"I'm glad that I showed you how to make a chest piece." He replied. I replied with a laugh. He put an arm around me and kissed me on the head. "You and the Cullens are life savers."

"Hmm Iron Man, that's catchy." I read the front headlines over his shoulder.

"It's just the titanium alloy. But I do like it." He explained as Pepper applied touch ups to his bruises by covering them up with makeup that matched his skin tone. Agent Coulson came up to Tony.

"Here's your alibi. You were on a yacht with Ms. Potts and your sister. We got papers to prove it"

Tony flipped through the cards. "There's nothing here about Stane."

"That's being handled. He's on vacation."

"What about the cover story about a body guard. Would that work?" Tony asked not confident about this.

"Just stick to the cards." He replied. Then he left.

"Oh wait, Agent Coulson. I just wanted to thank you for your help." Pepper said to him.

"It's what we do. You'll be hearing from us from,"

"The Strategic Homeland-" Pepper began.

"Just call us S.H.E.I.L.D." He smiled.

"Right. Thanks." She replied. She walked back and helped Tony get his jacket on and ready for the meeting. "Let's get this show on the road."

"I like the name Iron Man. I'm going to keep it." Tony said as Pepper slipped the jacket on him.

"You're not Iron Man." She told him repeatedly.

"Am so." He replied repeatedly. "Yeah if I am Iron Man, I would have this girlfriend that would know my true identity. She would be a wreck because she would be worrying if I was going to die, but she would be proud of me because of the man I've become. But then that would make her crazier about me. Which, do you remember that night?"

"What night?"

"You know which night I'm talking about."

"You mean that night we dance and we went on the roof. Then you went downstairs to get me a drink you left me there by myself. Is that the night you're talking about?" She asked him. He was quiet for a few moments. "Thought so." She replied smoothing the creases out of his jacket. "Will that be all Mr. Stark?"

"Yes that will be all Ms. Potts." He replied. Then he left us waiting in the room while he went out to meet the press.

"And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you." Rhodey announced. They clapped as he walked up to the stage to the podium.

"Um, it's been awhile since I've been in front of you, so I think I'll stick to the cards." Tony began. There was a chuckle rippling through the press. "There had been some speculations that I have been in that occurred on the freeway and on the rooftop-"

"I'm sorry Mr. Stark, but do you honestly think that we're suppose to believe that was a body guard in a suit that conveniently appeared despite the fact that-" Christine Everhart interrupted.

"I know it may sound confusing. It is that if one made wild accusations that I was a superhero." Tony tried to explain.

"I never said that you were a superhero." Christine replied.

"You…didn't?" He asked swallowing a bit nervously.

"No."

"Well good because that would be outlandish and fantastic." He took a deep breath. "I-I'm just not…the-the hero type, clearly. With this long history of defects and all the mistakes I've made partially public," He continued. Rhodey leaned next to him and whispered in his ear.

"Just stick to the cards."

"Yeah I know. I am." He replied in the same tone. He held up a card and took a deep breath. In a louder voice, he said, "The truth is," He looked at the crowd, "I am Iron Man." At once people were getting up shouting excited questions at him. Tony looked upset that he had to tell the truth. Pepper and I gasped.

"I don't believe it." She murmured."

"Oh we'd better believe it. Because I have a strong feeling that things are going to happen around here." I replied. So that's what happened over the summer. I had dreams about a vampire from a book that's been contacting me for a long time and I didn't know his name, I lost my brother, drew the picture of the vampire, he came to life and I found out his name, I get in dangerous situations that put my life on the line and causes me to be turned into a vampire to save me from death, got my brother back, helped him build a suit, and fight a greedy and nasty businessman. And I still managed to keep my secret between me and the Cullens. My life would never be the same again.


End file.
